Plus One
by Shadowkitty22
Summary: Rachel Berry is a smart girl. She knows that one plus one equals two. The only thing is, she's trying to understand when one plus one became three and who her plus one was.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I've literally had this story sitting on my computer for months because I'm actually still working on it. I typically never start posting a story before I have it finished but I just got sick of waiting for myself to finish and to start posting it that I decided to just go ahead and get the first chapter out there so I can feel better about myself. And in case you were wondering, this first part is so ridiculously short because it's the prologue and I do promise that the other chapters will be longer.**

**So without further ado, I give you Plus One.**

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><p>Pregnant.<p>

Dr. Stevens sighs as she reads that one word and closes the patient's file in her hands. Normally she enjoys being able to tell a woman or couple that they were expecting but there was always the small handful that she knew were unplanned and unwanted. She is 99.9% positive that this was going to be one of those times. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for what she is sure is going to be an uncomfortable conversation, she pushes open the door and strolls into the exam room where her patient was waiting.

"Hello," she says as friendly as she can.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Stevens," the young girl responds. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. Thank you for asking." The older lady replies as she places the file on the desk in the room. "How about you?"

"Well if we're being honest, after your phone call I'm rather anxious. I mean you normally don't call me back after I've had bloodwork done for my routine check ups so I can only assume that you found something and wished to speak with me about it in person." Rachel Berry fidgets slightly on the exam table when she finishes speaking.

Dr. Stevens removes her glasses briefly to pinch the bridge of her nose before replacing them and saying, "You assume correct."

The tiny brunette stills for just a second before quietly asking, "What did you find?"

"Well let me first start off by saying that your cholesterol, thyroid and blood pressure all came back fine. As did your pap smear."

"I'm relieved to hear that. So if none of those items are of concern, then why am I here doctor?"

The woman opens the chart on the desk one last time just to confirm that the results didn't magically change to a negative result when she wasn't looking just because she wished it to. Seeing that the offending paper still said "pregnant" she closes the file and looks back at the teenaged girl. "When was your last period, Rachel?"

Rachel stares silently at Dr. Stevens for a few seconds before responding, "I'm not sure. A few months I suppose. But you said that that was normal for me since I seem to have an abnormal cycle and don't menstruate every month like other women. Did the test results come back with a problem due to my irregular cycle?"

The doctor closes her eyes briefly and takes another fortifying breath before gazing upon the young girl again and speaking, "There's no easy way for me to tell you this, Rachel, but you're pregnant."

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><p><strong>AN: Hi there, me again. Yes it's another Rachel pregnancy story (just in case you somehow missed that bit of information...haha) but I'm kinda hoping that you'll stick with me since (to me at least) the concept behind my story feels different than all of the other pregnant Rachel stories that I've read.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: And because I simply didn't feel like waiting another day (and I've got cherry pie!) I decided to give in and post the next chapter. Oh the power of pie.**

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><p>Rachel just stares blankly at the other woman before scoffing. "I'm sorry but that's just not possible. I can't be pregnant."<p>

"I didn't believe it myself when I saw the results. So I had the lab tech run it again and your bloodwork came back positive," Dr. Stevens explains as calmly as she can.

"No. You don't understand. I _can't_ be pregnant," Rachel stresses. "I've never even had sex! And the last time I checked God wasn't just pulling Virgin Marys on unsuspecting Jewish girls from Lima, Ohio!"

"Are you sure, Rachel? About the no sex part I mean."

The young female laughs harshly, which is very unlike her. "Of course I'm sure. I think I'd remember if I had sexual relations with someone. I don't even have a boyfriend right now and haven't had one since June."

"Well I don't know what to tell you then except that you tested positive for pregnancy." Dr. Stevens reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a pad of paper and pen and starts writing on it before ripping it off and handing it to her. "Now here's a prescription for prenatal vitamins that I suggest you start taking right away. I'd also like you to schedule an appointment for one month from now so I can check up on you again."

Rachel just stares at the paper in her hand before repeating, "I'm not pregnant."

The doctor just looks at the clock on the wall and sees that it is time for her to check on her next patient. So she stands up and walks to the door but turns around before leaving to say, "I'm sorry, Rachel. I know this isn't what you were expecting but don't forget to set up that appointment and I'll see you next month."

The petite brunette just watches in stunned silence as her doctor walks out of the room and leaves her there. She sits there for a few moments before stuffing the piece of paper into her purse and rushing out of the room, not even stopping at the receptionist's desk to schedule the appointment for what she feels is a bogus pregnancy.

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><p>For the next few weeks, Rachel throws herself into her school work, Glee practices, vocal lessons and ballet class as she pushes the ridiculous idea of her being pregnant to the back of her mind.<p>

One morning during the first week of October, she is getting dressed for school and is getting frustrated with the fact that she can't zip up any of her skirts. Letting out an aggravated huff, the brunette pulls off yet another too tight skirt and kicks it off her foot not caring where it lands. Before resigning herself to having to wear a pair of pants, Rachel pulls one last skirt off a hanger and slips it up her slender legs and shrieks excitedly when she is able to pull the zipper closed. Standing in front of her full length mirror she checks over her outfit and realizes that the only reason she is able to get this skirt to zip up is because it is sitting higher on her body than it normally does, which causes the hem in the back to barely fall beneath the curve of her butt cheeks. She quickly rifles through her dresser and pulls out an appropriately matching pair of tights and puts them on as well, content with the fact that her butt is now properly covered.

Arriving at school twenty minutes early like she usually does, Rachel walks to her locker to gather the books and supplies she will need for the first part of her day. As she puts away the books that she had taken home last night, she stands on her tip toes to reach for something from the top of her locker but jumps back when she sees a male hand flash past hers and reach the item for her. Rachel's hand flies to her chest as she whirls around in surprise to see Noah Puckerman smirking at her with her notebook in his hand.

He lets his eyes rake down her body lingering on her legs. "Nice skirt, Berry. Although it's a shame you had to wear tights today instead of the knee socks," he drawls as he lets the fingers of his empty hand graze along the hem of her skirt coming dangerously close to touching her butt.

Rachel snatches her notebook out of his hand and swats at the other one before closing her locker and leveling him with a stare. "Good morning, Noah. Can I help you with something?"

Smirking at his ex-girlfriend he responds, "Well since you're offering, I happen to know of a perfectly good janitor's closet that we can get better acquainted with."

"You're incorrigible," she sighs as she grabs the handle of her pink trolley and begins to walk away.

"I'll take that as a maybe then," Puck calls out after her as he watches the hem of her skirt sway from side to side, wishing like hell that she hadn't worn tights today. He chuckles to himself when he notices the glare Rachel sent him over her shoulder as she continues to stride away.

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><p>The next week Rachel can no longer fit into any of her skirts and most of her jeans are starting to get a little tight as well. She wants to write it off as the dryer just shrinking her clothes but when she steps on the scale in her bathroom the brunette sees that she has suddenly gained five pounds. Now Rachel knows that for some girls five pounds isn't a really huge deal but for her, she feels as if her world has been thrown off its axis and started spinning at warp speed. This kind of thing just doesn't happen to her. <em>Surely there has to be some sort of medical reason for this, <em>the young girl thinks. _Some sort of allergic reaction to something in my diet. I know I'm getting plenty of exercise with my daily elliptical routine and dance classes. Perhaps it's just a sudden growth of more muscles. They do say that muscle weighs more than fat after all. But regardless, I think I'll schedule an appointment with the doctor just to be sure._

Grabbing her cell phone of her nightstand, Rachel dials her doctor's phone number and gets the automated appointment line. She quickly gets herself an appointment for later that day and then closes her phone so that she can go about her morning beauty regiment and head off to school. Stifling a yawn she stretches her arms up over her head to try and relieve her back of the dull pain she feels there. _I must be more tired than I thought from all of my extra efforts in ballet class for the upcoming recital._

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><p>Rachel manages to make it through her school day even though she feels like falling asleep in practically every class. So she is grateful to finally be sitting in the waiting room of her doctor's office to see if she can get to the bottom of the mysterious five pounds that decided to attach itself to her body somewhere.<p>

"Rachel Berry," a blonde nurse says as she steps into the room.

The petite brunette glances up when she hears her name called and then gathers her belongings before following the nurse behind the door. She is instructed to collect a urine sample and then to wait for her in room two. Doing what was asked of her, Rachel swiftly finishes up in the bathroom and then washes her hands before heading towards room two. The nurse arrives soon after and quickly takes her blood pressure, checks her heart rate and weight before noting everything on the chart and letting her know that the doctor will be with her shortly.

A few minutes later, Dr. Stevens opens the door and strolls into the room. Placing down the file in her hand and a small rectangular box with an attached wand looking device she looks at her patient and says, "Good afternoon, Rachel. I didn't expect to see you back so soon. Is everything alright?"

"I believe so but I wanted to make an appointment due to a sudden weight gain that I just noticed. At first I just thought it was my dryer shrinking my clothes when my skirts and jeans would no longer zip up but then I stepped on the scale and saw that I had gained five pounds! That's just not normal right?"

The doctor sighs quietly as she realizes that the young teenager in front of her apparently seems to still be trying to deny to herself that she is in fact pregnant. So she figures that she'll have to be a little evasive. "Are there any other symptoms you've been experiencing lately that might be contributing to your weight gain?"

"Not that I can think of. I mean I live a very healthy and active lifestyle. I'm vegan as you know and I work out on my ellipitcal machine every morning for at least thirty minutes and I have ballet class three days a week. But now that you mention it, I have been rather sore and tired lately, more so than usual that is. But I'm sure that just has to do with the fact that I'm practicing extra hard for my dance recital that's coming up in a few weeks," Rachel says confidently.

Dr. Stevens just nods her head. "And with all of this exercise you haven't felt any naseau?"

Rachel wrinkles her nose at the idea of throwing up. "No. And besides wouldn't naseau tend to lead to weight loss rather than weight gain?"

The doctor just chuckles lightly. "Too true. I guess you're one of the lucky ones then." Seeing the odd look on her patient's face at that statement she continues. "And how is your vegan diet working out for you? You're still able to stick with it? You don't feel the desire to eat something else sometimes?"

"Well lately I have had a difficult time saying no to my friends whenever they ask me to go out with them for ice cream. I mean an ice cream sundae just sounds so delicious but then I think about how bad it is for my vocal chords and I just have to say no. Same thing has been happening recently whenever my dads eat meat. Their steaks just smell so mouth watering but then I think of that poor animal and I just start crying hysterically that I would even think for one second about taking even just a bite out of one of their steaks." Tears suddenly began pricking at her eyes and she swipes at them to prevent them from falling.

The older woman recognizes the tears as Rachel's hormones acting up due to being pregnant, even if the younger woman still refuses to believe that she is in fact pregnant. However, she is hoping to be able to make her understand and accept that reality today. "Alright. Well I know that you prefer to live the vegan lifestyle and there's nothing wrong with that health wise as long as you're taking the proper vitamins to make up for the nurtients that you're lacking. Now I need you to lay down and raise up your shirt please."

Rachel looks at her doctor oddly at first before complying with the request. She watches as the other female squirts some gel on her belly and then applies the wand like attachment from the rectangular box. "What are you doing?" she asks as she begins to hear noise coming from the box.

Dr. Stevens is quiet as she continues to move the wand around until she finds the fast paced beating she is looking for. "Rachel," she starts out slowly, "this is the heartbeat of your baby."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** So I'm sure I've already said this in a previous author's note but I typically never start posting a story before I have finished writing it. But since I finished writing it today (complete with epilogue!)I figured I would treat y'all to another chapter. Hopefully this will answer some of the questions that I'm sure y'all have by now. And no, this is not the last chapter. I thought I would go ahead and clarify that since I've readers of mine in the past have had confusion about that when I said I finished writing a story. This is not the end.

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><p>While listening to the fast drumming of the heartbeat emmiting from the box, Rachel Berry felt as if her own heart stopped beating within her chest. She had wanted so desperately to believe that she wasn't pregnant when she came to the doctor's last time but there was no mistaking that heartbeat. It was way too fast to be her own and unless she was harboring some sort of alien life form inside her body, she was in fact pregnant. "Oh my God," she whispers as she closes her eyes and feels tears trickle down the side of her face.<p>

Quickly shutting off the machine and cleaning off the gel, Dr. Stevens asks, "Rachel, are you alright?"

A sob tears through the young girl's lips as she rapidly shakes her head from side to side. "No no no no no no no," she whispers over and over again. "I can't be pregnant. I don't want to be pregnant. What am I going to do?" She just cries that much harder when no answers immediately come to mind.

The doctor gazes down upon the girl in front of her and feels a wave of sympathy wash over her. "Would you like me to give you some time to yourself?" Rachel shakes her head no. "Alright, well then I really need to have an ultrasound done on you so we can figure out how far along you are. Because of your irregular menstruation cycle I can't really go by your last period if you can't remember when it was so I'm going to have to measure the fetus. I'll need you to follow me to the ultrasound room please."

Rachel nods her head woodenly as she gets up off the exam table and stumbles out the door behind her doctor. She wraps her arms around herself attempting to ward off the sudden chill that is seeping into her bones at the thought that she is indeed 100% positively pregnant. The petite brunette just lets her tears fall freely down her face as she walks down the hallway and into another room where the ultrasound machine and a female technician are. She lays down on the table when instructed to do so and raises her shirt up once more.

Once the gel is reapplied to her stomach, Rachel just stares blankly at the screen filled with black and white static. The ultrasound technician begins to move the transducer around in the gel covering the teenage girl's belly and an image instantly appears. Despite how much she doesn't want to be pregnant right at that moment, Rachel still can't help but to be slightly awed at the fact that the image she is seeing on that screen is actually a fetus that is growing inside her and will one day become a living and breathing baby. Every few seconds the tech stops the sensor and clicks the mouse by the computer in order to capture an image or types in numbers to chart the growth of the fetus.

"Alright," the female tech says as she clicks the mouse a few more times and cleans up the gel on Rachel's stomach. "We're all done. Judging by the measurements I'd say that you're about 14 weeks along. Which according to my calendar means that the date of conception was probably around the first week of July."

"How can I possibly be 14 weeks pregnant?" Rachel asks her doctor incredulously. "Wouldn't I have shown some sort of symptoms by now?"

Dr. Stevens clears her throat before speaking, "Well as you know, since your cycle is irregular you can't go off the most obvious indicator of having a missed period. You also apparently didn't get any morning sickness so the nausea wouldn't have tipped you off either. And I believe that you have been experiencing other symptoms but that you've just been trying to rationalize them as something else because you just didn't want to believe that you are pregnant. Those questions I was asking you earlier were to try and see what you had been experiencing so far. You mentioned fatigue, soreness, weight gain, a desire to eat foods that you normally wouldn't and then becoming overly emotional when thinking about how those foods came about. So the signs have been there but you've just ignored them," she says as gently as she can.

Rachel just stares at her doctor in a state of shock as the ultrasound technician places some glossy black and white ultrasound images into her hand. The young girl glances down at the picture on top and sees her baby's profile and tears rush to her eyes again. Looking from the image to her doctor and back down again she whispers, "It's really real isn't it?"

"Yes, Rachel, it is. Now I'm going to take a guess that you didn't actually get your prescription of prenatal vitamins filled, so here's another prescription for them," Dr. Stevens says quietly as she hands the piece of paper to her. "And I'm going to need you to make that appointment that I told you to make last time."

Rachel gives a tiny sheepish smile at the gentle reprimand.

"Now if you have no other questions, I'll see you in six weeks time for another check up and ultrasound. If you're interested we should be able to find out the gender of your baby at that time."

Rachel startles at that information, "So soon?"

Dr. Stevens gives her a small smile, "Well you did manage to make it through your entire first trimester none the wiser to the fact that you're pregnant so it's not really that soon. But I can understand how it would seem so to you. Do you have any questions for me?"

The brunette just shakes her head slowly as she stares at the photos in her hand.

"Alright, well then I'll see you in a few weeks," she says as she walks out the door.

After she makes her appointment for six weeks in the future, Rachel makes her way to her car in a daze. Acting on auto pilot, she unlocks the doors, gets in and buckles up but doesn't start the engine as she just sits there in silence trying to figure out how this happened to her. Remembering that the ultrasound technician said that she thought the time of conception was around the first week of July, Rachel tries to jog her memory of what she was doing all those months ago. The only thing that she can think of that was unusual for her is that she went to a fourth of July party at Finn and Kurt's house.

She honestly can't remember much of that night anymore since it had been a few months. Rachel remembers making sure she picked out an appropriately festive outfit in red, white and blue and being welcomed by her Glee friends at the party. She had tried to stay away from the other teenagers there who she knew were less than friendly towards her. She vaguely remembers at some point in time being handed a drink in a red plastic cup and downing it quickly due to her parched throat and seeing Noah flirting with some random girl. She hadn't realized how thirsty (and apparently how not over her ex-boyfriend) she was until it was gone and she realized that it was beer she had just consumed. Deciding that she wasn't really a beer kind of girl she had drifted off to the kitchen to see if there was anything better to drink.

Things had gotten rather hazy after that point because the next thing Rachel could clearly recall was waking up in a strange bed with no clue on how she got there. Trying her hardest to remember every detail of that morning, the teenager recalls that she woke up feeling unusually stiff and sore and that she had written it off as just being tired from all of her practicing for ballet class. The brunette gasps when she remembers that there had been blood in her panties that morning. At the time, she had just thought that she was starting her period since she knew she had an irregular menstrual cycle. But when the bleeding hadn't continued, she had just chalked it up to spotting and went about her life like normal. But with the information that she was now in fact pregnant, Rachel realizes that she had apparently lost her virginity that night and had no idea who had taken it.

Safely tucked away in the confines of her car, Rachel begins to sob loudly as she came to terms with what had happened to her. _All I wanted was a night of fun with my friends_, she thinks to herself. _And I wind up getting pregnant instead._

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><p>Noah Puckerman sighs as he pulls into the medical center parking lot. He has much better things to be doing with his afternoon than bringing his mom the dinner that she forgot. But being the good son that he is trying harder to be after the whole being a teenage father and breaking up with Rachel Berry thing, he made sure not to gripe at his mom when she had called him with her request. Puck snatches up the bag of food and starts heading towards the building. As he weaves his way through the cars in the parking lot he thinks he spots a familiar silver Toyota. Unconsciously he starts walking towards the car and that's when he sees her. Rachel Berry is sitting in her car looking as if she is having some sort of emotional breakdown.<p>

_Great just what I need in my day, an errand with a side of crazy._ Puck briefly thinks about just turning around and continuing on with his mission but he can't get the image of his ex-girlfriend's shoulders shaking up and down in time with her crying. Resigning himself to the fact that he did make a promise to God a long time ago that he would be better to his fellow Jews, Puck steps up to her car and raps his knuckles on her window. He smirks briefly when he sees the young girl inside jump at the unexpected noise but the smirk falls off his face when she turns to look at him.

When Rachel rolls down the window, he leans his forearm on the roof of the car and bends down so he was a little closer to her. "Hey Berry, what's up?"

Sniffling loudly, Rachel just stares at him. "What do you want, Noah?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she says with a slight quiver to her voice.

Puck snorts in derision. "Yeah because normal girls bawl their eyes out in a parking lot every day."

"Shut it, Puckerman!" she snaps at him.

The football player stands up then and replies, "Fine. I was just trying to be nice and check on you. You know, being nice to my fellow hot Jew and all."

Rachel swipes roughly at her eyes and cheeks to get rid of her tears and says dejectedly, "Whatever, Noah. I don't have time for this conversation right now. I'll see you on Monday." Then she rolls up her window, starts her car and drives away leaving Puck to just stare after her until he turns around and starts heading towards the building to give his mom her dinner and trying to figure out what in the fuck just happened.

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><p>When Rachel gets home she is relieved to see that her fathers aren't home from work yet. She isn't ready just yet to tell them about her life altering news and feels the need to wallow for a little bit longer. Walking into her bathroom, she turns on the water in the tub and adds some lavender scented bubble bath to it to help soothe her frazzled nerves. Once the tub is ready, Rachel turns on her iPod and places it in the speaker system before stepping into the tub and sinking all the way down to her neck and letting out a sigh as a few silent tears slip out the corner of her eyes.<p>

The petite brunette can't believe that she is fourteen weeks pregnant and had no idea. Letting the warm water soothe her aching body and troubled mind, the teenager lets her mind wander. _How could this happen to me? I can't believe that my night of fun turned out so horribly. I mean there are really only two scenarios that I can think of that would involve me ending up in this predicament. And while one of them isn't exactly stellar for my reputation, I simply refuse to accept the idea that I am a victim after finding out over three months later that it could've happened. No, I simply just have to believe that I apparently just got drunk and threw myself at some guy and we had sex._

_ And aren't there stories out there about women that knew within weeks of conceiving that they were pregnant?_ The young girl thinks to herself. _What does that say about me? What kind of mother am I going to be if I wasn't even aware that I was pregnant until now? _Her body suddenly stiffens in shock. _Wait WHAT? Me...a..a mother? What in the hell am I thinking? I can't be a mother. I've never had a strong female presence in my life to model myself after to even have the first idea on how to be a mother._

_ But I can't get rid of the baby,_ she argues with herself as her hands unconsciously move to rest on her lower abdomen. _I always believed myself to be pro choice but I know that I can't go through such a procedure as that. Even if I might not want to keep the baby I could never just get rid of it. I mean it's a part of me and I could no sooner get rid of myself then someone who is a part of me. I know I can give the baby up for adoption like Noah and Quinn did but I saw what that did to them. I know they don't speak about it but I can tell that they're always going to carry around that knowledge that they produced a baby together and gave her away. Even if they did it for good reasons and it was what was best for Beth, and that they have the opportunity to get to know her now since she was adopted by my birth mother of all people. I just don't know if I would be strong enough to give away my child and not share my love of music with him or her._

Realizing that her bath water has turned cold, Rachel sighs and pulls the plug to let the water drain before exiting the bath tub and drying herself off with a towel and heading into her bedroom. Hearing noises from downstairs, she figures that her fathers are now home and that there is no time like the present to break the news to them. So quickly getting dressed in a loose t-shirt and yoga pants, she grabs the ultrasound photos and leaves her room to go downstairs to have the uncomfortable conversation.

"Dad? Daddy?" Rachel calls out as she reaches the bottom of the stairs.

"In the kitchen," her dad responds. Leroy Berry glances up from his briefcase as he sees his teenage daughter enter the room. "Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?" Rachel just sniffles.

Hearing the noise, Hiram asks, "Did something happen at school today?" The brunette girl just shakes her head woodenly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Rachel looks up with tears pooling in her eyes as she stares at her dad and then at her daddy. She opens her mouth to speak but feels her throat close up as she chokes on the first word. When she tries again, she gets the same result and then her tears start to fall steadily down her cheeks. The young girl roughly swipes at her cheeks, unaware that in doing so she is flashing the ultrasound pictures at her fathers.

Leroy visibly pales when he catches a glimpse of the black and white photos. "Rachel, honey...are those what I think they are?" he asks cautiously. She gives the tiniest of nods as she cries even harder. "Oh Rachel," he says quietly as he quickly envelopes his daughter in a tight hug. "It's ok sweetheart. Everything will be ok."

"What's going on?" Hiram asks, still not understanding.

His husband gently pries the photos from Rachel's grasp and hands them to him and as he looks at the still shots of the baby and sees his daughter's name as the patient, he quickly rushes to her side and hugs both her and Leroy as tightly as he can, letting her continue to sob out all of her pain and sadness. Once she stops crying so much, he suggests that they sit in the living room so that they can talk.

The two men set their daughter in between them on the couch and each take one of her hands in their own as they wait for her to speak. When she isn't immediately forthcoming with information, Leroy gently asks, "Is it Noah's? Do we need to hunt him down and make him man up?"

Rachel just shakes her head as she quietly said, "No, it's not Noah's. At least I don't believe it's his since we hadn't reached that level of intimacy before we broke up."

"Alright, well if it's not Noah's, then who is the father?" Leroy prods. She just shrugs her shoulders in a very uncharacteristic manner. "What do you mean you don't know?"

The petite girl laughs mirthlessly, "Just that. I don't know."

"How can you not know? Surely you can't be that far along."

Rachel sniffles before replying. "That's actually the rather surprising part. According to the ultrasound," she glances at the pictures, "the date of conception was around the beginning of July."

Hiram quickly does the math in his head before blurting out, "That's fourteen weeks ago!"

She nods and takes a deep breath as she begins explaining about the party and what she remembers happening and how she believes that to be the night that everything happened seeing as how she knew that she and Noah never had sex while they were dating and that she certainly hadn't been sexually active since the party. "I just...I'm so confused. My doctor told me that I was pregnant a few weeks ago but I didn't want to believe her because it just didn't seem possible but then I heard the heart beat and there are these photos. And I just can't deny it anymore. What am I going to do?" the young girl starts crying again as she is once again overwhelmed by the reality of her situation.

Leroy wraps his arms around her and does his best to console her while Hiram goes to get her a large glass of water. Returning to his small family on the couch, he hands the glass to his daughter and watches as she takes large gulps of water and tries to calm down. "Well sweetie, we're definitely not thrilled with this news but we're not mad at you. Accidents do happen and the important thing right now is to focus on keeping you and your baby as healthy as we can."

"I'm so sorry," Rachel says as she finishes off the water in her glass.

"Shh, it'll be alright. Somehow it'll be alright," Leroy tells her with as much calm as he can muster. "What do you want to do with the baby?"

"I don't really know. I know I can't possibly get rid of it. I know I'm much too young to be ready to be a mother and that adoption is of course an option but I'm just not sure if I can go through the process of giving away someone that is a part of me. Not after everything I went through with reconnecting with Shelby only to have her tell me that I wasn't what she was looking for after all." A few more tears fall from her eyes as she briefly thinks about her birth mother who is now living in Lima and teaching at her high school of all places.

"Alright. Well, you still have some time to figure out what you want to do. But just remember that your father and I will support you with whatever you decide to do and that we love you very very much," Leroy tells her before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Rachel turns her teary eyes to look at her daddy as Hiram has been relatively silent during this whole discussion. While she loves both of her fathers equally, she has always feared disappointing her daddy more than her dad. She can't really explain it to herself but that's just the way it was. "Daddy?" she whispers.

Seeing his daughter's red, puffy, blood stained eyes and her cheeks covered in tear tracks, Hiram Berry gruffly pulls her to his chest and holds on to her tightly as she starts crying all over again. "Your dad is right, Rachel. We love you and we'll support you through this. You just need to make sure to keep us informed on what's happening with you and this baby. Know that we're always here to talk to or even just to listen." Pulling her body gently away from his own, he swipes his thumbs across her face to wipe away her tears and places a kiss on the top of her head before saying, "Now how about we get something to eat? What would you like?"

Rachel's face breaks out into a small smile, feeling somewhat better now that her father's know her secret and that they apparently aren't mad at her. "Chinese?"

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><p><strong>AN:** So there you have it. The big reveal on what happened. Except for it's kinda like I was explaining to a reviewer, that it's almost like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure books (which I never actually read as a child). So you could say that it's a Choose Your Own Pregnancy Method or something like that. Haha. I don't know, it was just something that I was thinking about and amused me.

Oh yes, and let's also just all pretend that we live in a world where Rachel is one of those stupidly lucky girls that doesn't have to deal with morning sickness while pregnant. I was sadly never that lucky in either of my pregnancies. And also keep in mind that there are women out there that have irregular menstrual cycles (so their Aunt Flo doesn't visit them as often) and who can apparently go for a long time without knowing that they are pregnant. Although I've really never understood how one can literally go 9 months without knowing that they're pregnant but whatever.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** So I had a reviewer bring up a question about the timeline of this story versus canon because I apparently didn't make it as clear to y'all as it is to me in my head. I guess you could kinda say that this story branches off in season 2 when Finn and Rachel break up since there is no Finchel kiss at Nationals or them getting back together. When I talk about Puck and Rachel being ex boy/girlfriend with each other, I'm not referring to their time together in sophomore year. Let's just pretend that in this story Rachel and Puck get back together after Finn breaks up with her for kissing Puck. They're will be a few canon pieces of season 3 (of what's aired in the whole whopping 3 episodes before they went on break!) mainly in the mentioning that Shelby and Beth are back. Sorry for any confusion.

And for those of you that have read my one shot _Planes, Trains & Automobiles_, I'm currently working on some companion pieces to it that should hopefully be done soon. So keep an eye out for that if you're interested in Smuckelberry.

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><p>The next couple of weeks seem to go a little better for Rachel, now that her dads know about the baby and haven't kicked her out like she remembers Quinn's parents doing. She honestly doesn't know what she would've done if that had happened since her situation is different than Quinn's was and she has no boyfriend (or name and face of the father of her baby for that matter) to fall back on. But since she is thinking about it, perhaps talking to the blonde former cheerleader about her circumstances might be a little bit helpful. Looking up from locker, Rachel sees the girl in question standing next to Finn Hudson, her boyfriend (they had managed to work through their issues after Beth was born and decided to give each other another chance) and waves to them. As she shuts her locker, Rachel heads their way when she is suddenly drenched in the freezing cold ice of a cherry slushie.<p>

Her eyes and mouth pop open in shock since it has literally been months (before she and Puck had gotten together the year before) since she has felt this level of humiliation. And once she looks down and sees how her shirt is clinging to her new little baby bump the humiliation just grows as she fears other people will be able to see it and start spreading rumors about her. Rachel quickly dashes into the nearest restroom and is grateful to see that it is empty. Standing in front of the mirror, she looks at herself and surveys the damage to her hair and clothing.

As she grabs a clump of frozen ice out of her hair, the bathroom door opens and none other than Quinn Fabray walks in. Rachel watches in the mirror as the other girl just leans back against the bathroom door and then flips the lock in order to give them some privacy. "What can I do for you, Quinn?"

The blonde girl just stares at her for a moment longer before walking towards the sink and grabbing some paper towels to wet them with cold water and then begins working on the stains in Rachel's shirt. Not looking her in the eyes she asks, "So how far along are you?"

Rachel gasps at the quiet question. "H-how did you know?"

Quinn gives her a small smile. "I've been there before remember? I had some suspicions with how tired you've been lately and then the sudden change in wardrobe," she gestures towards Rachel's loose shirt, that now clings to her body due to the slushie, and jeans. "So, how far along are you?"

"Sixteen weeks," the brunette admits.

"Wow. Is Puck the father?"

Rachel just shakes her head no before shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know actually."

Quinn just stares at the petite brunette quietly. "I never figured you for the anonymous one night stand kind of girl."

"I-I-I'm not," Rachel stammers before sighing and speaking again. "It happened at the fourth of July part at Finn and Kurt's house. I don't really remember much about the night. But apparently I walked in a virgin and walked out pregnant."

"So you were raped?"

She feels tears spring to her eyes at hearing the words out loud and can't help it when her shoulders start to shake. "I don't know, Quinn. I can't remember. It's all just a blackout. So I was either drugged and raped or just so drunk off my ass that I just gave my virginity to a total stranger!"

The blonde cheerleader is momentarily stunned at the curse word that comes from the diva's mouth before she gathers her in a hug and lets her cry on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Rachel."

"Thank you and while I know neither one is really a good option, I can't really prove that I was raped four months after it happened." Taking a deep breath she continues, "So I'm choosing to think of this as the lesser of two evils and that I willingly had sex with someone at that party. I – I have to in order to keep my sanity."

"Who all knows?"

She sniffles and swipes at the tears on her cheeks as she replies, "Just you and my dads so far. It's not exactly news that I want to parade around school, you know?"

Quinn nods because she knows that feeling all too well. She remembers exactly what it felt like to be the girl that everyone talked about and said malicious things to just because she made a mistake. Plucking the wet red stained shirt away from Rachel's body she says, "Come on. I should have a spare sweatshirt in my locker that you can borrow. And I still have my maternity clothes that I wore if you'd like to borrow them. You can come over after school and pick them up."

Rachel just nods and gives her a small smile as they gather their belongings (Rachel making sure to hold her books in front of her stomach since her shirt is still clinging to her body) and leave the bathroom together, not caring who can see them, both understanding that their relationship has forever changed due to their common situations.

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><p>Noah Puckerman might not be the absolute smartest guy in school but he notices things. He notices hot chicks. He sees short skirts. He especially likes hot chicks in short skirts. So yeah he sees a lot of girls but watching his former Baby Mama and ex-girlfriend walk out of the girl's bathroom together looking all friendly with each other piques his interest and he makes a mental note to get to the bottom of that. Because even though he might not be with Rachel anymore (for whatever reason that he can't even remember) he still wonders about her, especially after seeing her crying her eyes out in her car in the parking lot where his mom works.<p>

Sometime later in the day, he's finally able to catch Quinn on her own and so he strolls over to her locker and leans against it. "Hey Baby Mama, what's up with you and Berry?"

"Puck," she starts exasperatedly, "how many times have I asked you to stop calling me that? And there's nothing going on with me and Rachel."

He quirks an eyebrow at her use of Rachel's name instead of one of the many mean spirited nicknames that she'd called her throughout the years. "Yeah don't feed me that crock of shit, Q. I saw the two of you walk out of the bathroom together and head down the hall towards the locker rooms."

"Congratulations, Puck. You saw two girls walk out of the girl's restroom and head in the same direction."

"Quinn," he says with a slight scowl.

She sighs and shuts her locker as she turns to face him. "Look, Puck. I can't tell you about Rachel right now because it's not my place to say anything. She'll tell you when she's ready."

Puck just stares after the blonde girl as he tries to figure out what is going on. He isn't stupid and he knows that Quinn's use of Rachel's name paired with her actually not wanting to spread gossip or rumors about his ex, just confirmed for him that something is in fact going on and that he planned on figuring that shit out.

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><p>The next day at school, Puck finds Rachel at her locker so he casually leans against it as he reaches out to touch her shirt. "Nice shirt, Rach, it's very soft and familiar looking. Doesn't Quinn have something just like it?" He notices how her body stiffens ever so slightly as she hugs her books to her stomach just a little tighter and her breath hitches at his statement. <em>What's that about? It's just looks like a shirt that Quinn has.<em>

Rachel relaxes her body when he doesn't say what she was expecting. She gives him a small smile and tells him, "Yes, Noah, this is one of Quinn's shirts. I asked her for a little fashion advice and she very kindly loaned me some of her clothing that she no longer wears."

He quirks an eyebrow at this information. "Why would you ask Q for fashion advice? I happen to be a big fan of your skirts and knee socks. Very sexy look that only you could pull off."

She blushes at his comment and gives him a pretty smile. "Thank you, Noah. But nonetheless, I felt that it was time for me to make a change. I'm not always going to just be a high school girl."

"Damn shame," he smirks at her before quickly pinching her side, causing her to laugh and jerk away from him. "See ya later, Rach."

Rachel watches as Noah saunters on down the hallway to his next class, exhaling a big breath because she managed to keep from sharing her secret with him. She knows it is only a matter of time before everyone finds out but she isn't ready for that to happen just yet. She especially isn't ready to find out her ex-boyfriend's reaction seeing as how she knows that he had wanted to have sex with her while they were together (probably still does if she's being honest with herself) and they never did. She can't help but think that he will be furious and think that she had given it up to someone else just weeks after they broke up even though they'd been together for six months.

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><p>Unfortunately though for Rachel Berry, it seems that life just really likes to kick her when she's down. She is rifling through her rolling pink backpack trying to find her Glee folder so that she can work on their newest song but she can't seem to find it anywhere. At first when she finally concludes that it isn't there she just decides to accept her fate and try to print the sheet music up online. But then she remembers (for whatever stupid reason that seemed logical at the time) that her Glee folder is where she had stored her ultrasound pictures from the other day. And now she's lost her folder and those pictures and she can only hope and pray that whoever finds it doesn't look through it and discover her secret.<p>

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><p>Puck can't believe what he's holding in his hands. He knows what they are; these little black and white fuzzy images. Ultrasound images. But it's the name of the patient in the corner that baffles him. <em>Rachel Berry. <em>

He just doesn't see how this can be possible. He knows that they never had sex when they were together because she was never ready and he respected her enough to be cool with that and was just waiting for her to be ready. He had spent months dealing with all of the raging hard ons that their make out sessions created before he had managed to convince her that giving him a blowjob was a totally awesome thing for her to do to help him out. And boy was she fucking phenomenal at giving them, especially with that whole no gag reflex trick of hers.

But Rachel Berry and pregnant just didn't compute for him. _It has to be some sort of sick joke,_ he thinks to himself. _Or perhaps there's some other Rachel Berry in town that I don't know about._ Puck scoffs at his stupidity of that idea. He knows there are no other Berrys in town. He closes his eyes and rubs his hand over his mouth as he begins to think about all the different things he's noticed about her lately. _Crying in the parking lot...tired all the time...the new clothes...holding her books in front of her instead of letting that stupid rolling bag carry them._ The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that the images in front of him have to be true. Rachel fucking Berry is fucking pregnant!


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Has it really only been a week since I last updated? I swear it feels like longer than that.

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><p>When he spots Rachel the next morning at her locker, Puck just leans against the wall across the hall from her and observes silently. He sees the way that her shirt just hangs on her small frame in an attempt to cover up any baby bump that she might have. He also notices that she's started wearing jeans more often, which he thinks is just a damn shame since he loves looking at her legs on a regular basis, even if they aren't together anymore. But he doesn't exactly mind getting the chance to stare at her ass everyday either since he remembers how good it felt in his hands whenever she would straddle him in one of their frequent make out sessions.<p>

When Puck thinks she's just about done at her locker, he strolls on over and waves her glee folder in front of him. "You left this at practice yesterday."

Rachel gasps when she sees the folder and quickly takes it from his hands before rifling through the contents looking for her pictures. "Thank you, Noah. Um, you didn't happen to see anything else with my folder yesterday did you?"

He stares at her questioning gaze and notices that she seems a little scared. Puck knows that his pre Glee self would've taunted and teased her mercilessly about her being pregnant and just made her life hell in general. But ever since Glee and dating her, he just doesn't have the heart in him to drag this out any further than necessary. So he pulls the pictures out of his back pocket and shows them to her. "You mean these?"

The widening of her eyes would've almost been comical if it weren't for the severity of the situation that she was in. She snatches them from him before hastily shoving them into her bag while glancing around to make sure that no one witnessed any of that.

"So you're pregnant," Puck states; as he crosses his arms over his chest causing his muscles to flex.

Rachel closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them and before she can even stop the tears from pooling in her eyes, she whispers meekly, "Yes."

He runs a hand over his mouth before saying, "Right. Well I guess that explains your sudden friendship with Quinn."

"I'm so sorry, Noah," she chokes out.

"Whatever. I mean it's not like we're dating or anything so you couldn't pull a Quinn on me. Not like we didn't date for months, where I was_ completely_ faithful to you and never pressured you into having sex because I knew you weren't ready and I was willing to wait for you." Puck sees that she's started crying now but he just keeps on with his rant now that he feels he's on a roll. "I was cool with that. But it's not like any of that mattered since you were apparently all for giving it up to someone else as soon as I was out of the picture. Just _whatever_, Berry." He then turns around and stalks away from the tiny brunette, leaving her to cry on her own.

Rachel lets out a loud sob before she's quick enough to cover her mouth in an attempt to muffle it. With tears blurring her vision, she pivots and runs past her fellow students just hoping and praying that none of them have heard any of her conversation with Noah. She doesn't even notice when Quinn calls out her name as she just keeps running.

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><p>Quinn is standing next to her boyfriend trying to pay attention to what Finn is telling her about some new football play that Coach Bieste is making them learn. But she can't help from watching Puck and Rachel having some sort of argument before he storms off and she runs the other direction, tears streaming down her cheeks. She calls Rachel's name as she runs by, but the girl doesn't slow down or acknowledge her in the least, so she quickly turns to her boyfriend and interrupts his ramblings with a quick kiss to the lips and says, "I'm sorry, Finn, but I just remembered something that I need to get done before class."<p>

She hurries down the hall after Puck and finally catches up with him outside his government class. "Puck, wait up."

He glances up at his name and sighs when he sees the former head cheerleader. "What do you want, Q?"

"What did you do to Rachel?"

"Nothing."

She levels him with an angry glare. "So that's why I just saw her running away and crying her eyes out."

Puck just stares at her before replying, "Look, Quinn. I didn't do anything to her. She did it all on her own so just stop accusing me already." He doesn't expect her to slap him across the cheek nor for it to sting as much as it does. "What the fuck, Q?"

"You are a grade A asshole, Puckerman. You have no idea what you're talking about in regards to Rachel and you need to fix this. You need to find her, apologize, listen to her and stop being such a prick," she practically yells before stomping away.

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><p>As much as he doesn't want to admit that he is wrong, Puck knows deep down that what he had said and the way he acted had really upset Rachel and that he should listen to Quinn and at least attempt to make things better between the two of them. The only problem is that all day long when he keeps trying to track her down she manages to turn into some sort of pregnant midget ninja because he would catch a glimpse of her down the hallway and when he finally got to where she was supposedly at, she had vanished. She also manages to avoid him during lunch and since there is no glee practice that afternoon he knows he won't be able to see her then either. Sighing with resignation, Puck realizes that he's going to have to go to her house in order to apologize. He hasn't been back there since they broke up and he really isn't looking forward to it since he can easily recall all of their steamy makeout sessions and he really doesn't see the chance of something like that happening after the way he has treated her today.<p>

But nonetheless he finds himself sitting in his truck at the curb outside her house trying to convince himself that he really needs to get out and go talk to her. Blowing out a big breath, he rubs his hands on the thighs of his jeans before grabbing his keys and sliding out of the truck. Puck slowly walks up towards her front door before deciding that he doesn't want to take the chance of her shutting the door in his face, so he goes around the house and starts to climb the tree outside Rachel's window. He sees her lying on her bed diagonally with her head towards the window and her feet towards her bedroom door, with one hand rubbing up and down her body between her breasts and down to her belly and the other one out of sight but still moving in a somewhat rhythmic manner . He smirks when he knocks on the window and startles her so that her hands fly to her chest when she jerks up on the bed.

"Noah!" she gasps. "What are you doing here?" she asks him, even though he's still outside her window balancing on a tree branch.

Puck observes her flushed appearance and her slightly heaving chest and wonders if he had possibly interrupted anything private. "Let me in, Rach."

Placing her hands on her hips she just stares at him. "Why, Noah? What do you want? I think you made your opinion pretty clear this morning."

"Just let me in. Please? I wanna talk to you. Promise I'll listen to you," he says, giving her his most charming grin.

"Fine," she mutters as she unlocks and shoves open her window before stepping back to let him scramble through.

Once he stands up straight, Puck looks around and sees that her room is still the same. Her walls are still super yellow, playbills framed all over the walls, her bedspread is still really pink and he wonders if her bed is as comfortable as he remembers it being. He sits on the edge of the bed and kinda bounces up and down on it just a little and decides that yeah, it is just as comfy as he remembers it. He still hasn't said anything yet and looks over at Rachel, who's standing there with her hands on her hips with one eyebrow raised, silently waiting for him to start speaking.

"I'm an ass."

Rachel snorts. She fucking _snorts_ before covering her mouth in surprise and giggling quietly at her unexpected response to his attempt at an apology.

"Yeah yeah. I'm an ass. I said some mean shit to you today and you didn't deserve it. I guess I was just upset."

Rachel just stares at him for a little bit knowing that this was the closest she was going to get to an actual "I'm sorry" from her ex-boyfriend. She sits down next to him with her hands on her lap. "It's not like I planned for any of this to happen. I certainly had no intention of going to that party and coming out of it potentially violated," she says in a quiet voice full of hurt and anger.

"What do you mean potentially violated?" he chokes out as he grabs on to one of her hands and clasps it between his own larger ones.

She gazes up at him with tears pooling in her eyes before staring down at their hands, tangling her fingers with his before speaking. "I don't know how it happened, Noah. I-I don't even know _who_ did it," she stutters.

"Rachel, you don't have to tell me this," he tells her because he's not sure if he can handle hearing the story.

"I want, no I _need_ you to know, Noah. I need you to understand," she pleads with him. When she sees him nod at her she takes that as a go ahead to continue. "It was at Finn and Kurt's fourth of July party. I saw you there you know," she laughs humorlessly before continuing, "talking with some pretty girl and I guess I wasn't over you so I drank the beer that was in my cup. I really don't know who gave it to me or how you can stand to drink that horrid drink. It tastes so nasty." He smirks at her little tangent before giving her fingers a squeeze to let her know that he's listening.

"I then went off in search of something better tasting to wash out the taste of the beer. And then I can't remember anything until the next morning when I'm waking up by myself in a bed feeling tired, sore and with a little bit of blood in my panties. Of course me being me, I attributed all of those things to just overworking myself for my dance recital, which I can sadly no longer partake in given my condition, and just my normal spotting. And since I can't remember what happened between finding something better to drink and waking up, I can only conclude, and honestly hope, that I was either so drunk that I just had sex with whatever willing person I could find or I was r-r-raped," she finishes, her final word barely being heard at all, it was whispered so quietly.

Puck quickly wraps her up in his arms and feels her tears wetting his shirt as he rocks her back and forth. He tries to not let himself think about the fact that he really can't remember a whole lot about that night either, but he's not sure if it's because he drank so much and got wasted or that it's just been so long since it happened. So instead he chooses to focus on the crying pregnant girl in his arms. "Fuck, Baby. I'm so sorry. How long have you known?"

Rachel sniffles as she turns her head away from his muscled chest so that her voice can be heard but making sure to not completely move away from his secure embrace because she realizes just how much she's missed it. Trying her hardest to not let herself blush at their closeness, she lets her fingers play with the hem of his shirt as she says, "I've known for two weeks. Although my doctor tried to tell me a few weeks before that but I refused to believe her. I just didn't see how I could possibly be pregnant since I knew that I hadn't had sex. I mean you'd think I'd remember my first time, but no, not me."

He's quiet for a little bit as he lets all this new information sink into his brain. "So how far along are you?"

"I'm sixteen weeks now. I apparently get to find out the gender at my next appointment as long as the baby cooperates."

"Shit," he mutters when he realizes that she's already close to being halfway through her pregnancy and then he remembers that afternoon in the parking lot at his mom's work. "Is this what you were crying about that afternoon in your car?" He feels her nod and he gently kisses the top of her head without really thinking about what he's doing. "So what's your plan?"

"I don't really know. Obviously I'm not having an abortion. I haven't a lot of time to debate the pros and cons of keeping it versus giving it up for adoption." Rachel can feel him tense at the mention of adoption and she knows that he's thinking about his own baby girl, Beth. "I just don't know what I should do and I wish I didn't have to deal with this at all. Getting pregnant in high school was most definitely not part of my life plan," she says in a lame attempt at making a joke to help lighten the mood.

They're quiet for a few more minutes before he asks, "So who all knows?"

"Well Quinn figured it out on her own and I told my dad's that day you found me in my car. They asked me if it was yours," she tells him without looking at his face so she misses the odd look that passes over his features at hearing that last little bit.

Puck can't exactly explain what he feels when he hears that the Daddies Berry wanted to know if he was the father of their daughter's baby. Part of him can't help but think about his daughter who was living with Rachel's biological mother of all people. Thinking about how he was denied the right to call her his for so long and that even when he was finally able to call her his, that she never really was since Quinn was going to give her up for adoption. He briefly lets himself entertain the idea of being Rachel's Baby Daddy and what their kids would look like. _Whose eyes would they have? Would they have his nose? Would they wind up with her amazingly talented voice and naturally verbose manner?_ Bringing himself out of his thoughts, he hugs her tiny body closer to his with one arm while running his other hand up and down her thigh.

Rachel feels as if her skin where he is touching her is being electrified all of a sudden and her breath hitches. She squeezes her thighs together to try and relieve the sudden pressure she's feeling at her core. She remembers reading online that a pregnant woman's libido can increase while pregnant and she guesses that that's what's happening to her right now and would definitely explain why she was just beginning to pleasure herself before her ex-boyfriend showed up outside her bedroom window. She had been fine getting her hormones under control when he was there, shocking her with his sudden appearance, and then of course their following conversation. But it was like the dam had burst as soon as he had made actual skin to skin contact beyond just hand holding. The tiny diva looks up at him and whispers his name before placing her lips upon his.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** So I figured I'd go ahead and post this chapter sooner rather than later since I realized after posting chapter 5 just how short it is and that it literally picks up right where the previous chapter left off. So anyway, have at it and chapter 7 will be up later this week as well.

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><p>Puck hesitates for just a split second before tangling a hand in her silky tresses and letting himself sink into the kiss. When he hears her tiny moan as his tongue sweeps into her mouth, he finds himself wondering why he ever let this girl go, or walked away or whatever the fuck happened between them because he realizes that he's missed kissing her. He's missed touching her. Fuck it, he's just missed <em>being<em> with her but he's not going to risk sounding like a pussy by actually saying any of this out loud. So in an attempt to be even closer to her, Puck pushes against Rachel so that she's forced to lay back on her bed and he just nautrally follows her movement so that he's stretched out next to and half on top of her petite frame. He uses his free hand to briefly cup her cheek before letting it trail down her body to settle on her hips.

He bites at her bottom lip before licking it with his tongue and then proceeds to nip, kiss and lick his way across her jaw and down her neck to the juncture where it meets with her shoulder. Puck smirks against her skin when he hears her breathy moan of, "Noah," and his body just reacts as if it's on auto pilot because making out with her is just that natural.

Rachel grasps onto his biceps and squeezes his firm muscles as her body begins to writhe underneath Noah's just from his kisses alone. She can't believe how quickly her body is responding to his when he hasn't even touched her yet. She blames it on the pregnancy hormones but then decides to just not really care what caused it as long as he keeps kissing her. She feels his hand start to slide down her waist to the hem of her dress and moans as his large warm hand makes contact with her thigh just as he kisses the spot right below her ear that drives her crazy. And she loves that he remembers that spot even though they've been broken up for the past five months because he's the only one to have ever found it. She latches back on to his lips hungrily when he returns to kissing her as his hand glides back up her thigh towards her hips once again but this time underneath her dress. Rachel lets herself get so lost in kissing him that she completely forgets about what she was attempting to do before he arrived until his exploring hand stills on her body and his mouth wrenches away from hers with a strangled moan.

"Rach?" he asks in a rough voice. She just blinks at him in response, her large doe eyes clouded with lust. "Why aren't you wearing panties?"

The pregnant teen makes an embarrassed noise and turns her head into his shoulder as she tries to cover up the blush that is staining her cheeks.

"Baby, were you getting freaky with yourself before I showed up?" he asks in a joking manner. "Cause I'm not gonna lie...that's fucking hot."

Rachel just groans because she knows she's been found out and so she just nods in response to his words. "I just couldn't help myself. It's these darn pregnancy hormones that have just made me so...so horny all the time. I've been trying my hardest to suppress my urges and just ignore the itch but I just couldn't today and so yes I was beginning to engage in self gratification but you showed up before I could get very far," she rattles off very fast.

Puck is trying his best to actually pay attention to what she is saying but he found it kinda hard to stay tuned when he had his hand on Rachel's pantyless hip and she said that she was horny. His calloused thumb rubs circles against the side of her stomach as he looks down at her and licks his lips. "By all means, don't let me stop you from any sort of _self gratification_," he says with a playful tone to his voice before letting his voice drop an octave and leaning his head down to whisper in her ear, "or if you like, I'd be more than willing to help you out." He squeezes her hip tightly as he nips on her earlobe causing her breath to hitch in her throat.

"N-N-Noah," Rachel stutters as her brain registers his words.

He smirks against her skin as he lowers his lips to begin kissing along the column of her throat. "Yes, Rachel?"

"Please," she says breathily.

"Please what?"

The brunette rolls her hips against him as she tells him, "Touch me."

Puck captures her lips in another kiss as he lets the hand that was on her hip run back down her thigh but on the inside as he slowly pushes her legs apart to let her get used to the idea of his hand being there. Even though he knows that she's no longer a virgin he's intelligent enough to know that he still needs to be gentle with her since she doesn't remember anything of her first time and he wants her to feel good. He trails his fingers back up towards her center and brushes them over her and feels how wet she is already.

Rachel's body shudders at his touch when his calloused fingers run up and down her wet folds. She gasps and clings onto Noah's broad shoulders as he slips one finger inside of her and thrusts it in and out gently. She's sure that she would be embarrassed to hear the noises coming from her mouth if she wasn't so lost in the pleasure that he was giving her right now. Without even realizing it, her hips start to move in rhythm with his finger and she quickly finds herself asking for more and moaning when he slips a second finger into her tight passage.

All the while, Puck's whispering in her ear about how hot she is, how good she feels, how wet she is, asking her if she likes it. Rachel thinks that that last one just has to be a rhetorical question because how could anyone in their right mind not enjoy what he's doing to her right now. Then faster than she expects it, she feels a tightening in her belly as her hips begin to thrash frantically as she races towards some unknown finish line and she hears a distant whining of his name being repeated over and over again and it takes her a little bit to realize that it's her voice she's hearing. And then there's Noah telling her that it's ok, that he's got her and to just let go.

So she does.

And it's the most intense feeling she's ever experienced in her life. She rides out her orgasm on his fingers as he slowly brings her down before removing his fingers from her wet sex and gently kissing her lips. Rachel just lays there with her eyes closed and trying to get her breathing under control before opening her eyes to find Puck staring down at her with more emotion in his eyes than she's seen from him in months.

"Wow," she whispers.

He chuckles. "There's more where that came from. So any time you need some help scratching your itch," he trails off jokingly before kissing her on the forehead and rolling off the bed to go to the bathroom to clean his hand. Normally he'd just suck it clean, or have the girl do it for him, but he doesn't think that she'd be up for seeing or doing that just right now. Once he's done he walks back into her bedroom to see her still lying on her bed in pretty much the exact same position he left her in. "Hey, you ok?"

Rachel turns her head to look at him and she just lets her gaze travel over his body as she briefly wonders why she never did any of this stuff with him when they were dating because he is really _really_ good at it. And it's during her perusal of his body that she notices a rather telling bulge in his jeans. "I'm fine, Noah. Thank you for asking. But it seems like our actions have created a little problem for you."

Puck looks down at his crotch and smirks, "Ain't nothin _little_ about my problem, Babe. And it's not a problem either. I can totally take care of it later unless of course you're offering." He winks at her to let her know that he's joking. The petite brunette blushes furiously at his comment. "Well if you're alright and we're better now, I should probably be heading home before my mom starts to wonder where I'm at."

"Oh alright," she tells him, suddenly very reluctant to have him leave. "Well thank you for listening to me and letting me explain everything. It feels good to have someone else I can trust know my big secret."

He feels a warmth spread through his chest when she mentions that she trusts him. He knows that even though their relationship ended that he still cares about the tiny diva and will keep her secret for her and protect her once it inevitably comes out. Puck heads over to her window and says goodbye before starting to climb out.

"Noah," she says timidly. Hearing his name, he stops climbing down and looks up at her. "About your _problem_, maybe I can help you out with it sometime like you did for me." She giggles when his mouth drops open in shock and he loses his footing and falls the last few feet to the ground (which he will later deny because it is totally not a badass response).

Later that night as Rachel is sleeping, her dreams are clouded with images of what happened on that fateful night mixed with her memories of the time she spent with Noah on her bed just earlier that day but with the rising sun, everything that her subconscious let her see is wiped away except for the single thought of brown hair. When she fully wakes up, the pregnant teenager is horny and wishes that her hormones would just leave her alone already and she blames Noah for giving her an orgasm yesterday afternoon.


	7. Chapter 7

Over the next month, it becomes a common sight to see Rachel and Puck together in the halls at school. Even the sight of his arm slung around her shoulders or her arm looped through his and the constant casual kissing becomes such a regular thing that people just stopped questioning it and assumed that the two were once again back together. Rachel is just excited that her pregnancy is still relatively unknown to the student population thanks to the clothing that she borrowed from Quinn. But of course, like always, all good things must come to an end at some point in time and that day was today.

The weatherman on channel 13 had said that while it was going to be chilly outside that it was still expected to be a gloriously sunny day. So she dresses appropriately for the day with a nice warm sweater and heads to school. But when she runs back inside the school that afternoon drenched from head to toe due to the sudden surprise downpour, she curses the man silently in her head. Rachel makes it all the way to her locker before she notices the loud whispers.

"Oh my God."

"Is Berry pregnant?"

"What a slut."

"I wonder who the father is because who would want to sleep with her."

Glancing around she sees that people are pointing and staring at her. Well not at _her_ per say but at her stomach and dread fills her body as she looks down at herself to realize that her quick run in the rain (to get a book she left in Noah's truck) has exposed her pregnant belly for the entire student population. She feels tears prick at the corner of her eyes when she hears that last one and she wishes that a hole would just open up in the ground and swallow her so that she can be spared the shame and humiliation of her situation.

Just when she begins to feel a panic attack form, Puck quickly shows up and drops his letterman jacket around her shoulders in an attempt to cover her up and gives a short kiss to the top of her head. "Hey Babe. You ok?"

The pregnant teen places her face on his broad chest and breathes deeply as she tries to calm herself down and she finds that breathing in Noah's clean soapy scent is very soothing to her nerves. She wraps her arms tightly around his waist and presses her body against his and is only dimly aware of the fact that she might be getting him wet from where the jacket is open but she thinks he doesn't care when she feels his strong arms settle against her back.

Taking a final deep breath, Rachel pulls away from him and swipes at her cheeks to remove any trace of her tears. She's just about to thank him for his jacket when Karofsky saunters up to them.

"God you just can't keep it in your pants can you, Puckerman. I mean I can understand the appeal of knocking up Fabray since she was head cheerleader and president of the celibacy club but the queen of the gleeks? Did you decide to go slumming again?" he says with a sneer.

Puck grabs the front of David's shirt and slams him into the row of lockers and glowers at him. "What I do with my dick and who I do it with is none of your concern. And being with Rachel is never _slumming_ it. Now get the fuck out of here before I have to make your face an even bigger mess." He jerks the boy against the lockers once more just for good measure before letting him go and turning back to a wide eyed Rachel.

She stares at him silently while waiting for the other jock to wander off before speaking. "You didn't have to do that, Noah."

He shrugs and tells her, "He deserved it. Dude was being a douche."

"While I agree that Karofsky was indeed submitting to his neanderthalish tendencies, that's not what I was referring to. You didn't have to add fuel to the gossip fire of who this baby's father is by essentially agreeing with his accusation that it was you."

"So what, I'm good enough to give you orgasms but not be your pretend baby daddy?" he asks with an arched eyebrow.

"Noah," she admonishes.

He just keeps staring her down as he says, "Besides you told me about that weird dream you had a few weeks back that made you wake up all horny and just remembering brown hair and then about all the other ones after that. About how you now remember that at least that night was consensual but that it was too dark to actually see much of anything. And that apparently you were kissing the whole time since no words were exchanged. Which I gotta tell you, Babe, that's gotta suck. Words are part of what makes sex so good and I'm kinda jealous."

"Why in the world are you kind of jealous, Noah?"

"Because kissing you has always been awesome," he has a smirk on his face when he says this but then his eyes take on a more serious and caring quality as he continues, "So I know it's a long shot about me being the one, but it's possible."

Rachel sighs before trying a different tactic. "Think about what it would do to your reputation; to have knocked up two girls before graduating high school. That's not exactly a gleaming accolade that one would put on their college applications."

"Rachel," he speaks softly as he brushes a lock of hair behind her ear, "my reputation has been shot to hell and back again ever since I got Quinn pregnant in sophomore year and to be honest I just don't give a fuck anymore. These people can kiss my ass. It's your rep that I'm worried about because I know it can't handle you being a knocked up teenager who also happens to not know the name of the father. So just like, let me do this for you or whatever."

She gazes at him in stunned silence before launching herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Once she's settled back on her feet she places a brief kiss at the corner of his mouth and whispers, "Thank you, Noah."

"Anytime, Babe, but just to make this look more legit, I think you should be my girl again," he tells her with a smirk.

The petite brunette takes a moment to consider it before nodding her head in agreement. "Yes I do believe that it would make this situation more believable. So I'd be honored to have you on my arm again here at school."

"Oh I'm not just talking about here at school, Rach. You're my girl now, so this is all or nothing. It'll be just like last time but with a plus one," he teases playfully as he rubs his hand over her pregnant stomach.

Rachel beams at him before kissing him sweetly. "Of course, Noah."

* * *

><p>Glee club practice that afternoon is full of questions for Rachel and Noah. "Are you and Puck together again? Is he your baby daddy? How long have y'all been back together? When do you find out what you're having? Did you ever really even break up or did you just have an open relationship or something?"<p>

"Geez guys, cool it with the questions," Quinn tells them surprising some of the Glee kids that weren't aware that she and Rachel had formed a tentative new friendship. "She'll tell you what she wants you to know when she's ready."

Puck just smirks as he slings his arm over Rachel's shoulders as he decides to let her answer whatever questions she wants since she's in charge of this production. "Thank you, Quinn but it's really ok, they're just curious. Yes Noah and I are back together as of just recently. We did actually break up and what kind of future Broadway star do you think I am that I would consent to being in an open relationship with any guy who wishes to be the leading man in my life? And we learn the gender of the baby at my next doctor appointment."

He looks over at her and winks because he notices how she threw in that rant there at the end to disguise the fact that she didn't answer the question about him being the father of the baby.

* * *

><p>"You excited baby?" Puck asks as he grips her small hand in his while looking down at her lying on the table in the ultrasound room where they were waiting on the technician. She smiles at him and nods her head. "What are you hoping for?"<p>

Rachel is silent for a moment before saying, "I'm not really particular, I just want a healthy baby with ten fingers and ten toes."

He smirks at her response because leave it to Rachel Berry to attempt to be all proper with her response. "Well I happen to think a little you running around would be kinda awesome, even if she did inherit all your crazy. I've become rather good at handling it," he tells her with a wink. "She'd have your gorgeous hair and big expressive eyes."

"Hopefully not my nose," she says quietly while covering it slightly with her free hand.

The teenage boy uncovers her nose and holds that hand as well. "Hey now, none of that. I like your nose." She scoffs and gives him a pointed look. "What? It's a good nose. It's a proud nose," he murmurs as he runs a finger down the nose in question before nudging it with his own and giving her a quick kiss.

"Thank you, Noah," she whispers and smiles prettily. He just smirks and kisses her once more before the door opens and the ultrasound technician walks in apologizing for being a little late.

"Alright Mom and Dad, are you two ready to see your baby?" the redheaded woman asks.

Rachel can't contain the giggle that slips out of her mouth at Noah's response to being called a dad. His entire body relaxes and tenses at the same time as a soft smile graces his face in anticipation of seeing the baby on the ultrasound monitor. She can't help but find herself wishing yet again that she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was in fact the father of the baby growing inside her belly. But she finds herself quickly falling for him all over again seeing how sweet he's being and how much he wants to be there for her and this baby, even if it winds up not being his. Rachel always knew there was more to Noah Puckerman than people gave him credit for and she can't believe that Quinn would have ever thought of trying to deny these moments to him.

The older woman quickly gets to work as she squirts the gel on Rachel's belly and then runs the transducer over the baby bump as the couple watches the images appear on the screen. Rachel notices that every few minutes the technician will keep the transducer stationary as she makes notations and so being the naturally curious person that she is she asks why.

"I'm just taking measurements of the baby's various body parts for the doctor so that she can keep track of the baby's growth progress. I'm also making a note of your amniotic fluid level to make sure that you have enough to continue safely carrying the baby until term. Now, did you two want to know the gender of your baby?" she asks as she keeps the image on the screen steady on the baby's profile.

Rachel looks at Puck and he just squeezes her hand and tells her, "I'm all for it but it's totally up to you, Babe."

She beams a bright smile at him before turning back to the technician and saying, "Yes, we'd like to know," and then turns to look at the screen where she can now see her baby's tiny fingers up by its head.

The redheaded woman nods her head as she once again moves the wand around to try and find the baby's genitalia and once she has a good clear image up on the screen she glances over at the two teenagers and says, "Congratulations, it's a boy."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So there ya go. They're now officially back together and the baby is a boy. And wow, over 50 reviews already. Y'all are amazing. Speaking of the word "y'all" I found myself having to go back and edit that out since I'm fairly certain it's not a common word used up in Ohio like it is in my home state. Anyway, I hope y'all liked the latest update.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** So how about this week's episode. What a huge pile of suck, huh? With exception of Puck singing to Beth and the introduction of Rory it was just a huge pile of crap on top of Finn being a douche to Blaine because he feels threatened. You may all rest assured that there will be no Puck and Shelby kissing whatsoever in this story.

Fun fact that I realized tonight...Kenneth Choi, the actor that plays on Glee, plays in Captain America. I was amused to learn this because it's always fun finding people in Glee in other movies and tv shows.

* * *

><p>It's a little over a week later since Puck found out that his girlfriend is having a boy and even though he's not entirely sure if the baby is his (he's pretty certain it's not despite her current dreams because he wants to believe that he would remember having sex with Rachel even if they were broken up at the time) he's completely ecstatic about it. A little boy means trucks, sports, rough housing, getting dirty, getting into trouble and trying to weasel your way out of it, talking about girls and all the things that he never had a father around to teach him about. Like being responsible and respecting women. Fucking up with Quinn has beaten that lesson into his head rather firmly.<p>

He's just walked through the front door of his house after dropping Rachel off from Glee practice when he hears his mother scream his name, "_Noah Aaron Puckerman!"_

Puck tries to turn back around and run out of the house but he isn't quick enough before she's grabbing onto the back of his collar and dragging him into the kitchen. His mother can be incredibly strong when she wants to be. He briefly thinks that it has to be that whole adrenaline thing that allows moms to lift cars off of their babies that enables her to overpower him when he outweighs her easily by at least 50 pounds.

"What are these?" she demands, flashing him the ultrasound pictures from Rachel's last appointment.

"Fuck," he mutters. He can't believe she found them since he knows he didn't leave them just laying around in his room. Puck remembers that after the appointment they went to the nearest Fedex so that he could make copies of the pictures since he wanted to have them as well. The profile and gender picture are currently tucked safely into his wallet."Where did you find those, Ma?"

Miriam Puckerman puts her hands on her hips and glares at her son. "It doesn't matter where I found them, Noah. What matters is why you have them."

Sighing, he rubs his hand over the short bristles of his hair before saying quietly, "Rachel's pregnant. I went with her to her appointment a few weeks ago and then made copies of the pictures for myself since it was an experience that I was denied when Quinn was pregnant."

His mother just kinda deflates with this news as she sinks down into the chair next to him. "Oh Noah, my wonderfully stupid boy," she says in a way that only a mother can that lets him know that she still loves him even though she isn't happy with the knowledge that yet another high school girl is pregnant because of her son. "Of course you would want to do things differently this time around."

_If you only knew_, Puck thinks. He knows that he should probably tell her that the chances are really high that the baby isn't his but he wants to stick with his decision to support Rachel by claiming to be the baby's father so he doesn't bring it up.

"I thought you and Rachel broke up over the summer?" she suddenly asks, breaking him out of his silent musings.

He nods quickly and tells her, "We did but when we found out about the baby we decided to get back together."

"How far along is she?" Miriam asks as she glances down at the pictures in her hands.

Doing the math in his head, Puck says, "She's 21 weeks now."

"What?" she shrieks as her hands slam down onto the table.

He waves his right hand in the air in a noncommittal gesture as he answers, "It's a long story. But basically Rach's body is slightly abnormal and so she didn't realize that she was pregnant and then she tried to reason and rationalize the whole thing away until she just couldn't anymore and had to accept the fact that she's having a baby."

Miriam's head bobs up and down slowly as she takes this information in and sighs in resignation before telling her son, "Well alright then. So you're back with Rachel and you're having a baby. And you're going to invite her and her father's over here for dinner this week for Thanksgiving and I don't want to hear any complaining about it."

"Yes, Ma."

Handing him the photos back, says, "Now be a good boy and go to your room and do your homework. You're going to have to keep your grades up with a baby on the way so that you can get into a good college."

Puck nods his head in silent agreement before leaving the room and bounding up the stairs towards his bedroom. Once he's safely behind his closed door he sends Rachel a text message that says, _Mom knows about the baby and she wants you and your dads over for dinner on Thanksgiving._

* * *

><p>So Puck thinks that the family dinner can't really get any more awkward than it already is. He's sitting next to Rachel while her dads sit across from them at the table. They've already managed to exhaust all of the polite conversation topics about school and work when his mom opens her mouth and asks him and Rachel, "So are you two keeping the baby?"<p>

Before either of them can answer, Rachel's Daddy says, "Well I'm not really sure what Noah's part is in all of this but the last time we talked about it as a family, Rachel was still set on keeping the baby."

Miriam Puckerman looks slightly bewildered as she asks, "Noah's part? Well he's the father isn't he? And as the baby's father I would hope that he would do the right thing and be around to help out whenever Rachel needs him."

Puck just groans and drops his face into his hands just confusing his mother some more.

Hiram looks at his husband before glancing at his daughter and her boyfriend before saying, "The last we heard, and granted this was back when we first found out about the pregnancy a few months ago, Rachel didn't know who the father was." He gives the petite brunette a pointed look.

She bows her head and rubs her right hand over her belly in soothing manner as she is suddenly struck mute, while Puck just frantically wishes that he could shove those words back down the other man's throat. He didn't want his mom to find out that he is most likely not the father of the baby because he feared her reaction.

"Noah, is this true?" his mother asks, surprisingly calm. He's kinda thinking that she might strike when he's not looking. You know that whole _silent but deadly_ thing. "Are you or are you not the father of Rachel's baby?"

"I don't know," he mumbles as he pushes his food around his plate.

Miriam just stares at her son before yelling, "What do you mean you _don't know?_"

Slamming his fork down onto the table, he glares at his mother with heat in his eyes. "Exactly what I said, Ma, I don't know," he says forcefully. "It was months ago and we were both really drunk that night so it's entirely possible that I could be the father."

"Yes and it's a much higher likelihood that you're not, Noah," she says to him, speaking to him as if he were a little child. "Why would you want to get yourself involved in yet another teen pregnancy that this time you are most likely not responsible for? Why would you want to throw away your future for this?"

"Because it's what you're supposed to do," he tells her simply. He doesn't notice the curious looks on all three of the Berry's faces.

Gazing upon her oldest child with a slightly sad expression, Miriam asks quietly, "What do you mean, Noah?"

Puck closes his eyes briefly and lets out a huff of air as he says again, "It's what you're supposed to do. When you care about someone you're supposed to be there for them."

She reaches out and puts her hand on his arm and tells him, "I understand that, but why do you have to pretend to be the father?"

He reaches out and grabs Rachel's hand and threads their fingers together before speaking. "Because I have to protect her. I couldn't let those punks at school think she'd gotten herself knocked up from a one night stand. Do you know the kind of shit they'd say about her? Do you know how hard her life would've been without having a guy to name as the father of her baby? So yeah, I manned up and took on the responsibility because if there's anything your husband taught me, it's that you don't abandon the people that you love and that you're there for them no matter what. That you protect them in any way possible, even if it means lying for them."

Only at the end of his little speech does he realize that Rachel is sitting incredibly still next to him and that all of the adults are staring at him with wide eyes. He hears Rachel's breath hitch as she says his name, "N-Noah?" He turns to look at her and sees the curiosity and wonder filling her chocolate orbs. "I think we need to talk."

Puck nods before glancing at the three adults and saying, "We'll be right back," as he leaves the table, still holding on to his girlfriend's hand as he leads her up to his room. Once they were settled, sitting next to each other on his bed he asks, "What did you want to talk about?"

Rachel gazes at her boyfriend for a little while longer before asking, "Did you mean it?"

"Mean what, Babe?"

"What you said at the dinner table," she prompts and when he looks like he doesn't have any clue what she's talking about she says, "You said that you don't abandon the people that you love."

He nods his head in agreement before telling her, "Well it's true. The shit my old man pulled was fucked up. You just don't do that to the people you love."

"You love me?" she asks quietly.

Puck freezes when he finally understands what she was trying to get at the entire time. "Fuck." When he sees the flash of hurt across her face and the way she flinches from him he recovers quickly. "No no no no no. Baby, it's not like that. I do love you, it's just that's not the way I had ever planned on telling you; sitting at a dinner with our parents while my mom is yelling at me about wanting to be your baby daddy."

"Oh." Rachel still isn't sure what she should be feeling. Her heart wants her to be overjoyed that her boyfriend is in love with her even when the chances of him being her actual baby daddy aren't that great. But the logical side of her brain wants to hold out for more explanations. So she stares at him with her big brown eyes, silently imploring him to continue.

He runs his free hand over the short bristles of his hair as he says, "Shit, Rach, I don't know. I've been in love with you for a long time now actually," Puck tells her as he tries to look everywhere but at her and winds up failing as he eventually gets held captive by her intense gaze. "I knew I was in love with you while we were together but I just didn't know how to tell you and then we broke up so I just kinda figured there was no point in trying to tell you anymore."

Rachel closes her eyes and chuckles quietly before shoving at his shoulder lightly. "Well I'm pretty sure that telling me you loved me while we were breaking up would have been a rather compelling argument as to why you would want us to stay together, Noah. You should've told me."

"Would it have made any difference?" he asks as he stares at the cluttered floor of his room.

"Of course it would have," she tells him and when he looks back at her she can see the unasked question in his eyes and all over his face. "Because I would've told you that I loved you too."

"Well damn. You still could've said it then," he tells her gruffly.

She giggles, "Yes but I was silly and wanted you to tell me first."

Puck rolls his eyes and takes her hands in his as he says, "Well it looks like you still got what you wanted."

Leaning in she whispers, "I always do," before capturing his lips in a sweet kiss. "And this Thanksgiving, I'm so glad to have you back in my life."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Yay new chapter! Because my son is 9 months old today (and the fact that it's my normal updating day anyway haha) I come bearing gifts in the form of an update. The nickname that gets used later in this chapter is actually one that I use with my son. I really have no idea how or why I started using it but it has just stuck and I love it to pieces. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p>The remaining month of school after Thanksgiving and before the winter break passes quickly, with everyone stressing over Sectionals (which they totally rocked; especially with the moving version of Nickelback's <em>Never Gonna Be Alone<em> that the boys sang with Puck on lead) and finals. Rachel is glad that the gossip seems to have moved on to something else more shocking (turns out that some of the Cheerios had been sleeping with their history teacher in order to ensure that they passed. No one knows yet if it was under Sue's orders since she's gone touring for her congressional campaign). The couple told their friends in glee that they're expecting a boy and everyone still believes that Puck is the father since neither he nor Rachel is going to say any different.

It's now Hanukkah and the Puckermans and Berrys have decided to combine their family celebration this year in light of their children having a baby together. The adults had finally come to terms with the idea that Puck was going to be the baby's father no matter what they said against the idea; although admittedly they really didn't have much to say against it. The Berry men had quickly been won over by his declaration of love for their daughter during Thanksgiving dinner and Puck's mother just gave in because she knew how stubborn her son could be and she was secretly pleased that he was deciding to stand by Rachel while she was pregnant with a baby that may or may not be his.

Puck has been racking his brain trying to figure out what to give his girlfriend for Hanukkah as well as her birthday since it happens to be during their weeklong celebration. He wants to do something completely amazing and romantic for her but yet still be able to hold on to both his badass rep and man card. So now he finds himself walking the mall during the Christmas rush and he fucking hates it because there are people everywhere and this year's Santa is one creepy looking motherfucker that makes him glad that he's Jewish and never had to go and sit on the lap of a fat man pretending to be someone else.

He has already stopped at a few department stores to look at their perfume selections but he doesn't really think that would be the greatest thing to get her since he already likes the way she smells (like pomegranates and mangos) plus it might be like telling her she stinks or some shit like that. So he backs out of the current department store and heads over to the music store that he spies across the courtyard. Puck briefly thinks about getting her a CD or some sheet music but he's not really sure on what she already has since all of her music is on iTunes and the girl probably already has every piece of Broadway sheet music known to man.

Sighing, the mohawked teen leaves the store and keeps on walking through the mall, trying not to shove too many harried shoppers out of his way in his frustration. Running his hand over his thin strip of hair, Puck stops when he sees a jewelry store sitting right next to the mall movie theater. He knows that jewelry can be a kinda clichéd gift depending on what you give but he figures it's still worth a shot and that he'll check it out.

He slowly walks along the display cases looking at the various rings, necklaces and bracelets that they have for sale. He's not really surprised that the store is rather busy and that none of the salespeople are rushing over to help the teenager with the strange hairstyle. He's just about to leave the store when something in the very last case catches his eye. Puck knows that it will be perfect to give her for Hanukkah and so he catches the eye of one of the female sales associates and gets her to show it to him. Once he sees it up close, he's even more in love with the idea of giving it to Rachel and immediately purchases it before walking over to the movie theater to treat himself to an afternoon matinee.

When the movie is over, Puck suddenly has a great idea as to what to do for Rachel's birthday. So he pulls out his cell phone to call one of his former pool cleaning customers (no not that kind of customer. This one was male and totally legit) and asks him for a favor. He explains his idea to the guy and smiles when he is given the ok. Closing his phone, Puck slides it back into the front pocket of his jeans and whistles merrily as he finally leaves the overcrowded mall, knowing that he is one super kickass boyfriend for what he is going to do.

* * *

><p>Rachel's birthday happens to fall on the third night of Hanukkah this year and Puck has already cleared it with his mom and her dads for him to take her out that night. He's never been more grateful for the fact that both of their families aren't extremely traditional when it comes to their faith. They all came together on the first night to light the menorah, recite the blessings and then have a feast but after that night it was just a quick lighting with the blessings done at their own homes. He and Rachel had agreed earlier in the week that they would exchange their presents together on her birthday. He's a little surprised that she's the one that suggested it but then he quickly got over it when she had clapped happily and exclaimed that it was more presents for her.<p>

Rachel is a little nervous about tonight because she knows Noah is taking her out somewhere but he wouldn't tell her where so she has no real clue on how to dress herself and her pregnant belly. She's twenty five weeks along now and getting bigger every day. Rubbing a hand across her baby bump, the petite brunette stands in front of her closet contemplating her choices. She can't decide between jeans and a sweater or a skirt with a sweater. Then realizing what the common item between her two choices is, she quickly grabs out her new sweater dress; it's charcoal gray with silver threading throughout. She pairs it with some sparkly leggings and a pair of black boots that have a low heel.

Rachel glances at the clock and notices that she doesn't have much time before her boyfriend is supposed to be picking her up and so she quickly adds a few curls to her hair and swipes on a coat of lip gloss before heading towards the stairs right as the doorbell rings. She opens the front door to see Noah standing there and she smiles at him.

"Hey, Baby, you look fucking hot," he tells her. "You ready to go?"

She just laughs lightly as she says, "Hello to you too, Noah, and yes I'm ready to go. Just let me grab my things and say goodbye to my dads." Rachel then disappears briefly as she turns into the living room to let her dads know she is leaving and then grabs her jacket before stepping outside and shutting the door behind herself. "So are you going to tell me yet where we're going tonight?"

"Nope, it's a surprise. But I promise you'll love it. Come on, let's get you and Mr. Man into my truck and out of the cold," he says as he grabs her hand and walks with her to the passenger side of his truck.

Rachel looks up at him questioningly. "Mr. Man?"

Puck just opens the door for her and helps her into her seat before walking around to his side and getting in. Once the truck is started and the heat is going he explains, "Yep, I've decided that our son needs some form of a nickname until we decide on his name and that he couldn't have anything lame like Peanut, Pumpkin or Drizzle. He needed something manly and badass for a baby so Mr. Man is what I came up with." He grins at her proudly before he pulls away from her curb and starts driving.

She just giggles at his explanation and tells him, "You're ridiculous. But I love you and I love the nickname. So Mr. Man it is." She then leans over and pecks him on the cheek since he's too busy driving in order to receive a proper kiss.

When they get closer to their final destination, Puck tells her to close her eyes and to not open them until he says so. Rachel just rolls her eyes at him before smiling and doing as he asked. About five minutes later, she feels the truck stop and hears his door open and so she quietly calls out, "Noah?"

He grabs her hand and squeezes it gently, telling her, "I'll be right back, Baby. Keep your eyes closed." He then quickly pecks her lips before disappearing from the truck and shutting the door so that the cold outside won't creep in. When he returns, Rachel can immediately smell the scent of fresh popcorn and her curiosity is piqued. "Open your eyes."

She slowly opens her eyes and looks at her surroundings. At first she thinks that they are in the middle of nowhere, since there appears to be no one else around them in this big field. But then she sees the giant white screen and wonders how she didn't notice it sooner. She then looks at her boyfriend and sees him sitting there grinning at her while holding on to a bucket of popcorn and a soda. "Noah, are we at the drive in?"

"Yep," he says with a popped p.

Her head does a quick back and forth motion over the area again before returning to look at him again. "You didn't break in did you?" she whispers loudly.

Chuckling, he takes her hand and drags her across the seat so that she's tucked underneath his arm as he says, "No, Rachel. I called one of my old pool cleaning customers," he feels her momentarily tense against his body so he quickly reassures her, "No, not that kind of customer. I knew that _Frank_ happened to be the owner of this place since it's his family's old business. I know it's been shut down for years but he's never had the heart to put it up for sale so I asked him if I could use it tonight for a private showing of your favorite movie."

Rachel gasps and looks up at him with wonder in her eyes. "Oh Noah, we're going to watch _Funny Girl_?" He nods. "But how is that even possible? I highly doubt that he just happened to have a copy of the movie just lying around in some film cans."

"No but he did agree to bringing his video projector from home and setting it up so that I could do this for you," he tells her, before taking a sip of the soda. He can't help but feel like the man when she just beams her megawatt smile at him and then leans up to kiss him before grabbing a handful of popcorn.

He does his best to let her enjoy the movie by trying to not make out with her too much. He finds it's much easier to do whenever she sings along to the songs because even though he doesn't care much for what the songs are about, he loves to listen to his girl sing. Because even with a baby in her belly, taking up some valuable air space, she still sounds amazing. Running his fingers through the silky strands of her hair he kisses the her temple before running his other hand over her belly, hoping that the baby would finally kick hard enough for him to feel. Rachel had been telling him how she could feel the little flutters for the past few weeks and he was actually a little jealous. Quinn never let him touch her when she was pregnant with Beth so he has yet to experience a baby moving in the belly.

When the movie is over, Rachel leans up to kiss him and then pulls back to say, "Thank you so much for this, Noah. I had so much fun. I never thought that I would have my own private movie show. It was incredibly romantic and I love you for it."

Puck smirks because he knows that he is so the man. "Love you too, Babe." He then reaches his hand into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small box and hands it to her saying, "And to continue on with this awesome night, here's your Hanukkah present."

The tiny teenager stares at the box in her hands silently for a long time before looking up at her boyfriend, "Noah?"

"It's not gonna bite you, Rach," he tells her as he opens the box for her. Inside she sees a gold ring that is made up of multiple connecting stars with pink centers and she gasps at how pretty it is. "It's not an engagement ring or any shit like that. It's more like a promise ring; my promise to you that I'm going to stand by your side throughout all of this. I promise to make sure that you're the star that you've always dreamed of. That you'll be the brightest fucking star that ever lived. That you get everything you deserve and that one day I will get you an engagement ring and wedding ring to go with it. Assuming you haven't thrown me out on my ass by then. I love you, Rachel." Puck then pulls the ring from the box and gently slides it onto her finger as she's still just sitting there completely silent and it's honestly starting to freak him the fuck out. "Berry? Are you alive in there?"

Rachel blinks her eyes a few times as she stares at the shiny new ring on her finger and then up at her boyfriend. She can feel the tears pooling at the bottom of her eyes and is powerless to stop them from freefalling down her face. "Oh Noah."

"Well fuck. I didn't mean to make you cry. You don't have to wear it if you don't like it. I just figured you would since stars are kinda your thing and like metaphors or some shit and I know you love the color pink. Here take it off and I'll take it back and we can get you something else," he says as he reaches for her hand to start taking the ring off. But he yanks his hand back when she slaps it away with more force and sting than he thought her capable of. "Shit woman, what the fuck?"

"No! Mine," she shrieks as she cradles both of her hands to her chest to keep the ring away from him. Wiping her tears from her face Rachel says, "I'm sorry I'm crying. It's these stupid hormones. But it's my ring and I love it and you can't have it back. Never ever." Her hands shoot out and grab both sides of his head and drags his lips down to hers to kiss him forcefully, shoving her tongue into his mouth before moaning as one of his hands cups the back of her head while the other caresses her legs.

Puck lets himself sink into the kiss as he runs his tongue over hers, enjoying hearing her moans. The hand on her legs slowly moves up her body to gently squeeze one of her boobs as he trails kisses along her jaw to her ear and then down her neck. Rachel arches her back to press her chest further into his hand and moans loudly when he begins to suck on the juncture of her neck and shoulder. "_Fuck_, I love how responsive you are, Baby."

"Mmm, Noah, I want you. Take me home," she whispers quietly as she runs her hands over his muscled chest.

He pulls away from her neck to look her in the eyes, "Are you sure?" Normally he wouldn't question it when a girl tells him that she wants him, but this is Rachel and everything is always different for her. Plus he knows that she hasn't been with anyone but him since she got pregnant and all they ever really do is make out, with the exception of that one night that she allowed him to get her off and even that was a few months ago.

She smiles softly at him before speaking, "Yes, Noah. I want to be with you. Please take me home."

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><p><strong>AN:** So first off, in the beginning of the chapter I mentioned student/teacher relations (and this was totally written long before this Pelby garbage started happening) and I just wanted to say that I don't condone them at all. Except of course in the land of fantasy because then they can be kinda hot. :P Haha

I also took liberties with her birthday. I know that the wiki page for Rachel says that her birthday is December 18, 1994 and Hanukkah this year starts on December 20th which makes her birthday the 23rd in my story. No real reason why it is that way other than it's what worked out best for me in my head at the time. Speaking of Rachel's (actual) birthday, has anyone noticed that the calculations for her to be a senior are wrong? The age cut off date to start kindergarten in Ohio is September 1st. So you need to either already be 5 or will turn 5 by that day. In order for Rachel to be a senior right now in the canon Glee timeline, she either needs to have started school at the age of 3 (which isn't done) or she skipped a grade somewhere along the way. So they either need to fix her date of birth or somehow magically go back in time to before season 3 started and make her a junior. End mini rant about how Rachel can't be a 16 year old senior.

And the ring that he got her is an actual ring. It can be found here: www . aliexpress . com/product-fm/379151604-2010-Fashion-Candy-colored-interlocking-Star-Ring-Wholesales-Retail-wholesalers . html It's the gold and pink one that is a little farther down the page.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** And here's my real birthday present to y'all. The drabble was just for fun. Remember reviews make lovely birthday presents that cost you no more than your time. =^_^=

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><p>Puck can't believe how fucking <em>nervous<em> he feels about this. _I'm a goddamn motherfucking badass stud. I don't do this nervous shit_, he thinks but it does nothing to quell this feeling. He's been wanting to sleep with Rachel for what feels like forever at this point and quite honestly it kinda has been. When he mentally does the math he realizes that it's been over a year since they finally got together for real (not like that joke of a relationship back in their sophomore year and completely disregarding the fact that they broke up before getting back together a couple of months back). And that's just a long ass time to still have not slept with someone that you really want to do the deed with. Not that he'd ever tell her that because he doesn't want Rachel to think that he's only with her to cash in on the crazy horny pregnancy hormones. But now that he thinks about it, she definitely hasn't been as horny as everyone makes pregnant women out to be but what the fuck ever because she's his girl and she's finally giving him the green light.

He stands behind her as she tries to unlock her front door as quietly as possible since she doesn't want to wake up her dads, even though they aren't really light sleepers. He can't help but smirk when he sees her pause to stare at the way the porchlight reflects off her ring before she turns and kisses him quickly before letting them into the house. The two teens slip off their shoes by the front door and pick them up before walking quietly across the hardwood floors over to the stairs where they silently ascend and disappear into Rachel's room.

Dropping his shoes by her desk, Puck cradles her face between his hands as he gently brushes his lips against hers in what is quite possibly the most innocent of kisses he has ever given any female that he wasn't related to. He repeats the motion while steadily applying more pressure until his lips are moving firmly against hers and he uses his tongue to tease her mouth into letting him in as he tilts her head to get a better angle for easier access. He drops one hand down to the back of her dress to search for a zipper but can't seem to find one for the life of him and Rachel giggles.

"There's no zipper, Noah. Just a few buttons right here," she motions to the diagonal row of buttons that cuts across her chest from her neck to her shoulder. Slowly popping them out of their holes she glances up at him from under her lashes. "You just undo these and then the dress gets pulled off over my head."

He quickly stops her from trying to take her dress off herself since that's something he wants to do. So instead Puck backs her up into her bed and pushes her down and back until she's laying down. He takes off his longsleeved henley shirt and tosses it somewhere on the floor, exposing his strong arms to his girlfriend's gaze but still keeping his chest covered due to his under shirt. Flexing one arm and then the other, he smirks when he hears her breath hitch. "You like the guns don't you, Baby?"

Rachel reaches out and lets her fingers run over his biceps as she tells him, "They are quite lovely."

Puck begins to strip off her leggings one leg at a time and he's so grateful that all the sparkly shit on them isn't coming off like he feared it would. He doesn't exactly want to be covered in glitter like one of those sparkly vampires in that book his little sister likes to read. Once her legs are bare, he slowly runs his hands up her toned legs and makes sure to grab the hem of her dress and drags that up as well, taking note of her bright blue cotton bikini panties complete with purple bows on her hips. When the dress clears her stomach he leans down to place a few kisses on it before continuing to remove his girl's clothes. He's kinda ridiculously excited to see if her bra matches her panties or not and he's not disappointed when he sees her once the dress is finally off and on the floor.

"Noah, you're staring," Rachel tells him as she squirms slightly under his gaze, causing her breasts to jiggle a little in her too tight bra. She's managed to go up an entire cup size since she got pregnant, so she's actually kinda spilling out of her bra somewhat since she has yet to get around to buying new ones.

He places a knee on the bed next to her so he can lean down and kiss her before whispering against her lips, "You're so beautiful, Rachel." He kisses her sweetly before wiping his thumbs under her eyes to get rid of the sudden tears. Puck pulls back so that he can finish stripping off his own clothes and then climbs back onto the bed in only his boxers and takes her into his arms. "Are you still sure you wanna do this, Rach?"

When she nods he kisses her passionately, sweeping his tongue into her mouth to tease hers with it as he reaches behind her to unclasp her bra and he swallows her loud moan when he takes it off. "Damn Baby, I haven't even touched them yet. Are they that sensitive?"

"Yes. I hate wearing a bra now because they're just so much more uncomfortable now that I'm bigger."

"Well you could always just go without one. I wouldn't complain," he smirks and winks at her.

Giggling she lightly slaps his chest. "No, Noah. I'm not going to go around without a bra, especially now that I'm bigger breasted. I just need to give in and go buy new bras. But taking them off has now become the best part of my day because it just feels so freeing and it makes my nipples tingle and I kinda like it," she tells him with a bright red blush staining her cheeks.

"_Fuck_ you're so hot, Babe. I betcha I can make 'em tingle too," he says challengingly before dipping his head down to swipe his tongue over first one nipple and then the other and smirking as her body jerks in response and her breath stutters. He lavishes her breasts with licks and kisses as he takes his time to enjoy their newfound fullness. But much too soon for his liking he leaves them alone since he does know that they are crazy sensitive right now and there can apparently be too much of a good thing and he doesn't want to cause her pain just because he likes her bigger boobs and listening to her moans and whimpers.

He kisses his way down her body and gently rubs her extended belly and places a loving kiss on her belly button before he slides down and tries to slip between her legs but she manages to roll herself onto her side before he can make himself comfortable. "What's wrong?"

"You don't have to do that, Noah. I mean, it's not like it's my first time and n-no one's ever..." she trails off in her embarrassment.

Puck chuckles lightly as he looks up at her and says, "Do you trust me, Rachel?" She quickly nods her head and so he begins to roll her onto her back and spreads her thighs wide and places a gentle kiss on her inside thigh. "Then let me do this and treat it like it is your first time because that's what I'm making it. I promise you'll like it."

Rachel just stares at him with wide eyes, slowly licking her suddenly dry lips when she sees how her boyfriend's eyes are dark with lust but yet still filled with love for her. So she whispers, "Ok." And then Noah's fingers and tongue render her speechless and she's only able to moan out loud as he brings her over the edge time and time again. When it becomes too much for her to take, she starts to kick him in the side to get him to stop since she can't reach him with her hands due to her belly and apparently her pleas for mercy are falling on deaf ears.

Swatting at her attacking foot, Puck pulls away from her wet and warm center and says, "Ok ok, damn woman. I'll stop licking you already. But it felt good right?" He crawls his way up her bed until he's lying down next to her, cradling her body to his.

"Mmmm yes, Noah, that was amazing, thank you. I've never felt that good before," she tells him as she lazily strokes her fingers up and down his arm that is draped across her belly.

He kisses behind her ear before saying, "It gets better, Baby. Just let me get a condom and I'll show you." He then begins to roll over to search for his jeans on the floor when Rachel's grip on his arm tightens and stops him so he turns his head to look at her questioningly.

She bites her lip before speaking quietly, "As long as you're clean you don't have to use one if you don't want to. It's not like I can get pregnant right now anyway."

Puck is just staring at her in shock as his brain is registering that his girlfriend is giving him permission to go bareback inside her. He's never gone without a condom with any female he's ever slept with; even Quinn. That was just an accident when the condom broke. He's always been kinda curious as to how much more amazing sex would feel without the barrier of a condom. "Are you serious?"

"You're clean right?"

He vigorously nods his head. "I made sure to go to the clinic to get checked after we got back together, not that I expected anything like this to happen between us, but I just wanted to be sure ya know. And I haven't been with anyone since then." He's been running his hands up and down her body then entire time he was talking and squeezing her thighs.

"Then it's ok, Noah. I just want to feel you and only you," she whispers.

Puck groans as he presses his face into her neck and nips the skin lightly. "Fuck you're amazing, Rachel and I love you so much. I'm gonna make your _real _first time so good for you, Baby." He kisses her gently before putting her back on her side and lifting up her right leg up and over his hips as he settles himself in behind her, making sure to line himself up with her core. He rubs the head of his erection over her slick folds and bumps her clit making her body jerk against his. Placing himself at her entrance, Puck pushes forward causing them both to moan at the feeling of him filling her. He can't believe how amazing it feels to have his dick surrounded by the intense tight wet heat of his girlfriend's sex.

"Oh, Noah," Rachel moans lowly as she feels her boyfriend's hard length inside her. "I never-" she begins to speak but stops when she feels him pull out before slowly thrusting back in, "oh God. I never thought sex would feel like this."

He knows that he's nowhere near as deep inside her as he could be if they were in a different position but he remembered reading somewhere that this one seems to be the most comfortable one on pregnant women (yes he read up on sex positions for pregnant women just in case his girl ever wanted to jump his bones) but _shit_ it still feels fucking amazing. He can feel every time her muscles contract around him and it takes every ounce of self restraint he has to just not pound into her hard and fast like he wants to. Instead Puck makes slow, strong, steady strokes as they both moan and groan as he does his best to make sure that she feels the most pleasure that she possibly can.

Rachel starts chanting his name over and over again as her climax builds, her fingers scrabbling for purchase on her bedspread before she feels Noah thread his fingers through hers and squeeze her hand tight. She hears him whispering in her ear to let go, to give in and let the pleasure take her away and when she feels like her body can't possibly take a single moment more, she finally gives in and cries out as her orgasm races through her body, setting her limbs on fire and only moments later she feels her boyfriend join her as he thrusts into her roughly and grunts out her name.

As they're lying on her bed coming down from their orgasmic high, Rachel looks at him over her shoulder and says, "Thank you."

Puck chuckles and pecks her on the lips. "Fuck Baby, I should be thanking you. It's never been that good."

"Really?" she asks meekly since she can't believe that out of all the sex he's had that this would've been his best, although if she's being honest with herself, it did feel amazing (even if she doesn't really have anything to compare it to).

"Yeah, Babe, I wouldn't lie to you about sex. I mean you know about my history and all but it's never been that intense. I guess being in love makes sex better or some shit like that. Who would've thought? I -" Puck stops when he sees the slightly annoyed expression on his girlfriend's face. "Sorry. I guess I shouldn't talk about this while we're still naked and in bed together."

"You think?" she says in a snarky manner. Sighing she kisses him lightly and apologizes. "Sorry. I guess I just started feeling insecure once you started talking about all of your previous conquests and I know I can't really compare with all of your cougars and the Cheerios, especially when I'm so huge with -"

Puck cuts her off with a passionate kiss and threads his fingers through her hair. "Stop it, Rachel. Never compare yourself to any of those girls because you're amazing and will beat them hands down anytime." Rubbing his hand over her belly he continues, "We're having a baby together and you're so _fucking awesome_ for letting me be a part of it all, for giving me the chance to be the kind of dad I know I can be."

"Oh Noah, I love you so much and I know you're going to be an amazing father to Mr. Man. Oh speaking of being a father, I have your Hanukkah present," she tells him excitedly as she wiggles her way out of his arms and gets out of bed.

Shifting further up the bed, he reclines on the pillows and asks, "What, you mean that wasn't it?"

Rachel looks at her smirking boyfriend and says, "No Mr. Smarty Pants, as enjoyable as that was it was not your present. Now where did I put it?" She searches for a few more minutes before remembering that she had put it inside her purse, having intended to give it to him earlier that evening before they got distracted. "Here it is."

Puck takes the small rectangular package from her and quickly rips it open and removes the lid from the box only to feel his chest constrict once he sees what's inside. Rachel had gotten him a double picture frame that said "World's Greatest Dad". On the left side is a photo of him holding Beth from when he first went to visit her at Shelby's and on the right is the ultrasound profile picture from the first doctor's visit he went to with Rachel. He could feel his eyes start to prick with tears but he refused to actually cry since it was horrible for his badass rep. Instead he kissed his girlfriend until they were both breathless and then pressed his forehead against hers. "Thank you. I love it."

She just smiles prettily. "Happy Hanukkah, Noah."

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><p><strong>AN:** Quite obviously I didn't follow the ridiculous canon of him never using condoms. I mean seriously...WTF? Now let's see if I can manage to get as many reviews as I am years old. And no I'm not telling. Haha


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Mine is slowly winding down by this point when most of y'all are just waking up but that's neither here nor there. There are bits and pieces in this chapter that briefly mention things that have happened so far in season 3 but I don't honestly feel like they're earth shattering bits of canon and so nothing will really be spoiled for you in the event that you haven't already seen the episodes. And now for your Thanksgiving treat, chapter 11 of Plus One.

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><p>School has been back in session for a month now and the Glee kids have been working on their song selection for Regionals since it's the first weekend of March and as Rachel is constantly telling them, it's never too early to get a leg up on the competition. Especially since this is senior year for a lot of them and their last chance to make it to Nationals and take home the championship title. And she's not letting anything stand in their way of taking first place at Regionals and securing their spot for Nationals. She's even gone as far as to step down as the lead this time around since she knows her superior breath control has been shot to hell since her baby is just taking up more and more room inside her petite frame. But the most shocking thing was when she suggested that Tina take the solo since she's a highly under used voice when it comes to their performances and that Mercedes and Santana could do the duet since they sounded magnificent together on their Adele mashup.<p>

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><p>The weekend before Valentine's Day the Glee girls, plus Kurt and Blaine, throw a baby shower for Rachel at Quinn's house. The friendship between the former head cheerleader and the pregnant diva has grown, albeit slowly (sometimes old habits are hard to break), since she realized that Rachel was pregnant. Her friendship with Puck has grown as well since she can see how in love with the other girl he is and that he is planning on sticking by her throughout the pregnancy and beyond. It kind of makes her wish that she had actually given him more of a chance when she was pregnant with Beth but she knows now that it's what was best for the little girl at the time (even after her little visit to Crazy Town when she tried to take back custody from Shelby by proving that she was an unfit mother).<p>

And besides, Rachel had been one of her bigger supporters to help her realize that the reason she was really acting out is because she never really came to terms with and got over the fact that she had a baby at sixteen years old. The petite brunette had helped her to find a therapist that she could talk things out with and in the end it actually wound up making her relationship with Finn better as well. And honestly it all just kind of shocked the shit out of her, considering how she's treated the girl in the past and how the two of them kept fighting over Finn during their sophomore and junior year.

But all in all, it's a lovely day with Rachel getting all sorts of new clothes, diapers and other necessities for her little boy. There are a lot of tears shed by the pregnant teenager while everyone just smiles and laughs at her pathetic attempts at cursing her hormones, since she's always had issues with foul language. When she gets home, she happily shows her fathers and Noah all of the adorable new baby items, and while her dads give her the reactions she's looking for, she can't help but notice that her boyfriend seems rather tired and less than enthused about the whole thing even though he's smiling at her and trying to act happy.

When she's saying goodnight to him out by his car she asks him what's wrong and he replies, "Nothing, Babe. I'm just a little tired. I had an exhausting basketball practice today."

"Oh; alright then. Well call me when you get home so I know you got there safe and didn't fall asleep at the wheel or anything dangerous like that. Get a good night's sleep and I'll see you later." She places her hands on his biceps and leans up to kiss him goodbye before wrapping her arms around him for a hug.

"Sure thing, Rach. Now head inside and go keep you and Mr. Man nice and warm," he tells her as he hugs her back and then swats at her butt as she turns to walk away. Climbing into his truck, he starts the engine and turns on the heat as he watches to make sure she goes inside before he starts to drive home. He calls her when he gets there and they talk for a little bit before saying good night to each other and going to sleep.

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><p>On Valentine's Day, Puck surprises her with the real reason he was so tired on the day of her baby shower. He, along with her dads, had been working on turning one of the spare bedrooms into a nursery. He had spent his entire day putting together the crib while her dads painted the walls a soothing shade of green, since he knew that she didn't want the walls to be a stereotypical blue. When he had finished building the crib and moving all the heavy furniture (he had been waiting for the paint to dry), he had stenciled on some of the notes and one of the lyrics from their song from Nationals last year (<em>Let's light up the world tonight<em>) along with glow in the dark star stickers on the ceiling so the baby will have something to look at when his eyes get strong enough. He even went so far as to put all of the bedding on the crib but he left the organization of the clothing and supplies alone since he figured Rachel would want that to be to her specifications.

When he removes his hands from her eyes he immediately slaps them over his ears in order to muffle the excited shriek that she makes in her moment of happiness. He watches as she walks slowly around the room trailing her fingers over everything. Puck can hear her softly singing to herself when her eyes fall on the lyrics on the wall and he smirks. He can't help the way his chest swells with pride in a job well done when she gives him a loving kiss.

"Oh Noah, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's better than I ever could've imagined. You did such an amazing job. I can't wait to put our son to bed at night now knowing that he'll be sleeping under the stars."

Puck runs a hand over the back of his neck while his other arm rests around her back with his hand settled on her waist. "Well your dads painted the walls but I made sure to do the stenciling and put the crib together. And while I thought of doing the star stickers, it was their idea to put them in actual constellations."

"Well it's absolutely wonderful and I love it. And I love you too."

Wrapping both arms around her and her swollen belly, he kisses her forehead and then her nose before murmuring, "Me too, Babe," against her lips before capturing those in a kiss.

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><p>On the bus ride to Regionals, Puck tells her that they should really start thinking about names since they're running out of time. Rachel tells him that she's kind of always liked the name Ethan for a first name and Andrew for a middle name. When he asks her why she says it's because Ethan has Hebrew origins and that it means strong, while Andrew means manly. He smirks knowing that their son is going to have a "strong and manly" name because that's just so badass. But the thing that really blows him away is when she says the whole thing together.<p>

_Ethan Andrew Berry-Puckerman_.

While he naturally doesn't dig the whole hyphenated name thing, he's smart enough to not say a damn thing about it since he knows that the chances are astronomically high that the baby really isn't his and so he's just honored beyond all belief that she would even include his family name as part of the baby's name. Puck gives her a kiss full of so much passion that it keeps both of their lips occupied for the remainder of the bus ride.

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><p>It doesn't really surprise any of them when they wind up winning Regionals again since they were actually doing things right this year and preparing for it months in advance instead of just doing Mr. Schue's weekly assignments that did nothing to prepare them for actual competitions.<p>

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><p>Sitting together towards the front of the bus on the way home, Rachel has her head on Puck's shoulder with her eyes closed as she's trying to unwind from the high of winning and the fact that she feels so exhausted. Prancing around on a stage and singing at 35 weeks pregnant is no easy feat. She's just grateful for the fact that she didn't go into labor right after getting off the stage like Quinn did two years ago. She's humming quietly to herself when she hears her boyfriend speak, "Hey Babe?"<p>

"Yes Noah?"

He takes a little bit to gather his words before speaking since he knows this could possibly be a touchy subject. It's actually something he's been thinking about ever since he found out Rachel was pregnant and he decided to claim the title of Baby Daddy but their conversation before the competition just really brought it to the forefront of his mind and he feels like he can't keep pushing it away anymore. "You know I love you and the baby right?"

Raising her head up from his shoulder to look at him she answers, "Of course, Noah."

He licks his lips nervously before continuing. "And that I want to be there for you and him through everything. His birth, afterwards, growing up and whatever else you'll let me be a part of."

"Yes," she says slowly, not really sure of where he's going with this conversation.

"Well I was wondering, have you considered having a paternity test done after Ethan is born to see if I am his actual dad?" He looks at her nervously while waiting for her answer.

Rachel is shocked since this is honestly one of the last things that she expects to come out of his mouth not only tonight but at any point in time. Her eyebrows shoot up into her bangs as she blinks in surprise. "I...well that is to say, I - well to be honest I have given it a little thought. I'm just not sure if I could handle knowing without a doubt that it's not you."

"Oh, alright. I understand. I was just curious. You have to know that I wouldn't love him any less if it turned out he wasn't mine," he tells her seriously while stroking her cheek.

She gives me a genuine smile and says, "I know, Noah, and I love you for that."

They spend the rest of the ride in silence, wrapped in each other's arms and in their own thoughts about what is to come in only a few short weeks.

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><p><strong>AN:** Remember, reviews are like a slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving and I love me some pumpkin pie. =^_^=


	12. Chapter 12

Rachel soon discovers that labor is nothing like what they show on tv and in the movies, at least not for her. There's no sudden and unexpected bursting of her water creating a puddle at her feet. Instead she gets the more run of the mill back pain with light contractions that she's able to just write off as normal aches and pains associated with being pregnant.

They've been going on all night and it's not until the next afternoon at lunch when she squeezes Puck's thigh so hard that he thinks she might've given him a cramp that he realizes everything is not alright. When he questions her about it she admits to feeling the contractions all day but that they've steadily been getting stronger and closer together. Once they've timed them and see that they're five minutes apart they realize that it's time to go to the hospital. So he quickly shuffles her out of the cafeteria leaving behind their slightly confused friends as he heads them towards his truck. Before he starts the ignition he shoots off a series of text messages to her dads and the Glee kids to let them know that he's taking her to the hospital because they think it's time.

Once Rachel is admitted to the hospital, she's taken back to a triage room where they monitor her contractions and check to see if she has dilated any. The nurse says that the contractions are now about 4 minutes apart and that she's at 3 cm but that her cervix isn't effaced at all and that they're going to have to give her a drug to help ripen it.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Puck asks. "It's not like it's a fucking piece of fruit or somethin'."

Rachel slaps him on the arm, "Language, Noah. I will not have the first word our son hears being one of your crude and uncouth ones."

"Babe, it's not like he's going to understand what it means right anyway."

"That doesn't matter," she tells him before latching on to his hand again when another contraction hits.

The nurse just smiles at the two teens as she explains that while Rachel is having contractions that her body just isn't preparing for the birthing process like it should and they're just going to help it along. She then tells them that a doctor will be with them shortly to adminster the drug. While they're waiting her dads show up and they thought to bring her overnight bag. They talk for a little bit but step out when the doctor shows up.

Once the gel has been applied, the doctor tells them that it is only a matter of time and that they really recommend that she walk around as much as she possibly can to help things progress. So Puck helps her off the table, grabs her slippers out of her bag and they start walking. And they walk.

And walk.

And _walk._

When Rachel sees a bench that she swears she's already passed fifty times she sits down on it and rubs her belly. "I can't do this, Noah. I'm so tired and my back is killing me," she cries.

He stands behind her and does his best to knead her sore muscles in her lower back but it's kinda hard given the awkward angle. But he knows he's doing a good job when he hears her let out a low moan. "Yes you can, Rachel. I know your back hurts and you're probably sick as fuck of walking in damn circles but you can do this, Baby. _We_ can do this. Now how about we go back and have them check you again seeing as it's been a few hours already?"

Sniffling, she looks up at him with tears in her eyes. "Can we?" He just nods at her and helps her back up on to her feet.

They spot her dads on their way back to the exam room and they let them know what's going on. Puck has already given them the Glee phone tree so that they can take charge of giving out the updates since he knows he's actually going to be pretty busy taking care of Rachel. They get back to the exam room and don't have to wait long for a nurse to come in and check her. The nurse tells them that she's only at 5 cm and that they can pop her water for her if she wants since it can speed things along as well.

Relief floods through Rachel at hearing those words and she just nods her head and says, "Yes, I'm ready to meet my son already so let's do that."

It's only a few short hours after the doctor came in to puncture her water that her body makes it to 10 cm and her cervix is at 100% and ready to go. Amazingly enough to Puck, Rachel had opted out of the drugs saying that her contractions weren't that bad and that she could handle them. But it's not long into the pushing that she's bemoaning the fact that she wishes she had said yes to the drugs and that she never wants to do this again naturally.

Puck just keeps letting her death grip his hand and alternates it out after every few contractions so that he can hopefully get some feeling back into it before it's time to switch again. He encourages her constantly telling her what a great job she's doing and to just keep going because their son is waiting to meet his momma. And with one final bone crushing squeeze to his hand and a scream from Rachel that is the loudest one she has released throughout the entire labor process, the baby is finally born. He just kisses her sweaty forehead as his eyes fill with tears when he hears tiny Ethan crying.

"You did good, Rach," he whispers to her before pressing a light kiss against her lips. The doctor asks him if he'd like to cut the cord and he has the biggest smile on his face as he tries his best to not let his hands shake too much since he'd rather not cut off his son's junk or something equally as stupid.

The doctor tells the couple that Ethan weighs 7 lbs 9 oz and is 20 1/2" long. She then hands the baby to Rachel after he's been cleaned and wrapped up in a blanket to keep him warm.

The new mother can't help the tears that cascade down her cheeks as she gazes down upon her son for the first time. "Hi, Ethan," she coos at him before looking over at her boyfriend. "He's so beautiful, Noah."

"Yep. Knew we'd make awesome Jew babies," Puck smirks, not caring that he might not actually be that little baby boy's biological father. He's totally gonna take credit for that shit. Rachel just giggles and doesn't bother to correct him either since she knows how lucky she is to have him.

Later when she's been cleaned up and moved to a post partum room, a nurse comes in with a stack of paperwork that she needs to fill out in order to get Ethan his birth certificate as well as get the process started on a social security number. Rachel quickly fills in her information but then stares at the part that asks for the father's name and date of birth. Her heart wants to put in Noah's information since he's been there for her ever since he found out about the pregnancy but she knows it's not right to legally make him Ethan's father without his permission. So instead she gets her boyfriend's attention and hands him the paperwork and pen. Puck looks at her, confused on what she wants him to do with the forms.

She picks at a hole in the blanket on her bed and averts her eyes as she speaks quietly, "I wasn't sure what I should put there or if I should just leave it blank since we don't know if you're actually his father or not. And I didn't want to make you legally responsible for Ethan if it wasn't something you were interested in. I wouldn't want you to think of him or myself as a burden that you have to take care of and I would completely understand if -" Rachel gets cut off when the forms are dumped into her lap.

They're filled in with his information.

**Father's Name: **Noah Aaron Puckerman

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><p><strong>AN:** So baby Ethan is finally here! Hooray! So yeah, I know this chapter is definitely shorter than all the rest but I really didn't feel like doing a drawn out blow by blow of each hour of labor because honestly if you've got a long one they all just tend to run together in the end and you don't remember much about them. So I pretty much combined my birthing experiences with my own children and turned it into Rachel's. Except for neither of my kids were that tiny. Both of my were over 9.5 lbs! Big 'ol chunky babies but I love em. They're awesome as are reviews. *hint hint wink wink nudge nudge* Haha


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** So here we are at the end of the line. This idea came to me sometime over the summer from watching an episode of _Veronica Mars_ and the way this story ends has been the entire plan all along and what the whole story was based around. So if you've ever seen that show (which I discovered thanks to some lovely Glee FF writer that kept mentioning it in their stories and author's notes) then you quite possibly might have some idea of what I'm talking about. But regardless I welcome you all to enjoy the final chapter of my first ever multi chapter Puckleberry fan fiction story that actually bothers to follow a story line, unlike my drabble collection.

I've also started work on a new story that I got from the drabble meme, but it's gotten so out of control that it is totally not anywhere near drabble length anymore. But I hope to have the first chapter up either by the end of the year or early next month.

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><p>Rachel can't help the smile that spreads across her face as she gazes down at her sleeping son. He's grown so much in the past year that it's hard to believe that he ever fit inside her at one point in time. She lightly runs her hand over Ethan's back as he shifts slightly into a more comfortable position. Sighing, the young mother glances down at the envelope in her hands and reads the return address for what feels like the thousandth time since she received it just over four months ago.<p>

New York City Genetic Center

She hasn't been able to bring herself to open it all these months. Instead it's been hiding inside her first edition copy of War & Peace since she knows that no one is ever going to open that anytime soon for a bit of light reading and therefore it remains safe. Moving to sit in the rocking chair in her son's nursery she lets her mind wander to all of the things that have happened in the past year to bring her where she is now.

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><p><em>The first few weeks after Ethan was born were the most exhausting of her life. She was hardly getting any sleep and it was all she could do just to keep up with her homework in order to make sure that she graduated that May with all of her friends. Luckily though, she had a wonderful support group in the Glee club and they all took notes for her, brought her assignments to her and even made videos with their cell phones of what was being taught in her math and science classes since she tended to learn those subjects better visually instead of just reading it out of a book.<em>

_ Of course her teachers were aware of her situation and were more than willing to let her off the hook in regards to her homework, just as long as she came in at the end of the semester to take her finals. But being Rachel Berry, she was determined to maintain the self imposed level of excellence in regards to her studies and made sure that her boyfriend turned it all in on time for her. He of course had been all for taking the time off from school but she wouldn't hear anything of the sort and made sure that he went everyday so that he could also keep his grades up and graduate on time. She knew how important getting out of Lima was to him._

_ So it was with smiling faces that Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman, along with the rest of the William McKinley's graduating class of 2012, walked across the stage and collected their diplomas. She couldn't keep the beaming smile off her face as she heard both of her fathers and her boyfriend's mother screaming and hollering for them when their names were called. Rachel just hoped that they weren't too loud for her son's ears as he was still quite young._

_ Once the summer had arrived, Miriam Puckerman had less of an issue with her son staying the night at the Berry's house in order to help out with Ethan, which pleased Puck because he had actually found himself missing the little guy when he wasn't around and he knew how much Rachel appreciated his help so that she could get in a good nap once in awhile._

_ The couple had spent a lot of time talking before they graduated about what they were going to do once it was time for college to start since they both knew that Rachel was going to New York to begin working on her Broadway dreams. Puck had told her that he was coming with her and Ethan no matter what and he'd work three jobs if he had to just to support them while she went to school. When her dads had heard this they went to talk to his mother and actually came to an agreement that worked out even better for all involved. They had told the couple that they had decided to move to New York as well since there was nothing to tie them down to Lima anymore. They then invited Noah to move in with them where he could live rent free but only if he got himself a job and at least went to community college or night school in order to at least get the basics out of the way until he could figure out what he wanted to do for a living._

_ So that August, the Berry family and Noah had packed up their belongings into a U-Haul truck and said one final goodbye to Lima, Ohio as they made their way in a small three vehicle caravan to New York. The Berry men had found a nice three bedroom house that they could all live in and were even going so far as to trust their daughter and her boyfriend to share a bedroom so that Ethan could have his own room. They wanted to be protective of their little girl but they weren't deluded enough to think that the young couple wasn't intimate with each other and therefore there was no real reason to keep them apart. Hiram and Leroy expected them to obey the house rules and to respect them as the heads of the household and neither teenager ever gave them problems._

_ Not long after arriving, college had started for Rachel and while her natural tendencies were to immerse herself in anything and everything that she possibly could, she knew that with an infant at home that she should allow herself time to relax. And so with a normal course load she was able to spend time with her boyfriend and son. Noah had managed to find himself a job at a nearby Mom and Pop style mechanic shop run by a sweet older couple. The owner's wife absolutely adored Ethan and told Puck that she would be more than willing to watch the little boy during his shifts so that he could have a better availability and earn more money for his family. So with the help of the owners, he was able to work full time during the day and then go to school at night just liked he had promised Rachel's dads._

_ At the end of November of that year, was when Rachel had gotten the letter in the mail from the genetic center. She had decided just a few weeks earlier that she would get the test done to determine if Noah was in fact Ethan's biological father or not. But once she held the results envelope in her hand she found that she didn't have the guts to open it herself and that perhaps she should let her boyfriend do it first. So she had decided to wait until Hanukkah to give it to him as a gift. But then she realized that if the letter said he wasn't the father that it would actually be a pretty bad gift. So that's when it got hidden in __War & Peace__._

_The holidays passed quickly with a visit from Puck's mom and sister. They had all attended a few Broadway shows and made sure to do all of the typical tourist attractions in the short amount of time that they had together._

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><p>Hearing her son shift and fuss in his sleep, Rachel's head turns to check on him. Satisfied that he is still asleep, she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and then stops to admire the ring on her finger. The memory of how she got it was one of the best in the past year.<p>

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><p><em>They had gone to Times Square for New Year's Eve so that they could watch the ball drop since it was something that they both always wanted to do. They still had a few hours to go so they had gone ice skating before hand and even though Puck could dance fairly well, he was apparently terribly uncoordinated when it came to skating on ice. But the couple still had a wonderful time, even if he fell on his ass one time too many, sometimes even taking Rachel down with him. After the skating, they had gone for hot chocolate to help warm up as they made their way over to where the festivities of the evening were going to take place.<em>

_ As they waited the crowd had gotten bigger and bigger and so Puck just wrapped his arms around his petite girlfriend and pulled her against his body in order to ensure that she didn't get hurt by anyone nearby. Even though he's not a fan of huge crowds, Rachel knew that her boyfriend was having a wonderful time just by the smile on his face. There was just something about the moment that made it magical and as the crowd shouted the countdown to ring in the New Year, she couldn't help but smile as well since she was finally here in the city that she belonged in with the man that she loved. But it wasn't until she turned around to get her kiss that Rachel realized her boyfriend was no longer holding her closely. Instead she found him down on one knee._

_Holding a ring in his hand._

_ Tears had immediately blurred her vision as she threw her hands over her mouth to muffle her happy squeals. When Puck stood up, Rachel had launched herself into his arms and screamed, "Yes yes yes yes yes!" into his ears over and over again before kissing him in front everyone that was gathered around them._

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><p>She can't think of a better way to have rung in her new year than by getting engaged to her wonderful boyfriend and father of her son. Hearing a quiet noise at the doorway, she looks over and sees her fiancé (she loves saying that so much) standing there just staring at her. Rachel can't help the blush that creeps onto her cheeks at the way he looks at her. She knows that they're still young and have a lot to do before they're ready to actually get married (like finishing college for starters) but she's so unbelievably happy to be able to introduce him to her friends as her fiancé. To let all of those women out there know that this incredibly handsome man is hers and totally off the market.<p>

"Hey Babe," Puck whispers as he walks over to her and drops a quick kiss to her lips. "Your dads should be home soon with my mom and sister so we can celebrate Mr. Man's first birthday together." She just nods and runs her hands over the envelope in her lap. "Whatcha got there?"

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in order to gather her courage, she looks up at him and says, "It's a letter from the New York City Genetic Center."

Puck's body freezes when he hears her answer and says dumbly, "Oh."

Rachel fidgets as she begins to explain. "I've actually had it for months now but I just couldn't bring myself to actually open it up and find out one way or the other. I know I probably should've discussed it with you before I went ahead and sent in the DNA samples but I had convinced myself that you wouldn't mind in the end since we've both kind of flip flopped back and forth between wanting to know and not wanting to know. So I figured that this way we would at least have the answers available to us in case we firmly decided on wanting to know. But then I thought that you might want to be the one to open it since it is more about you than it is me but I could just never think of a good time to give it to you. And I'm so sorry for going behind your back."

He's just standing there silently doing his best to listen to her spiel but all he can really grasp is that the answer to whether or not he is Ethan's biological father is sitting right there in his fiancé's hand and he's now no longer sure if he actually wants to know. Shaking his head slightly, Puck holds out his hand for the envelope and then stares at it once it's within his grasp. "How did you get a DNA sample from me? I think I'd remember you stabbing me with a needle."

Rachel smiles sheepishly at him before responding, "I swabbed your mouth one night while you were sleeping."

Puck chuckles as he flips the envelope over in his hands so that he can slide his finger under the flap but he stops when Ethan wakes up and starts crying saying, "Mama mama," over and over again. He watches as Rachel goes to the birthday boy and checks his diaper before picking him up to console him.

"Hi Mr. Man. Can you say 'Dada'?" she asks sweetly. He has just recently started talking and even though most babies say dada first (apparently it's an easier sound to make or some silly thing like that) their little boy is just an overachiever like his mom and so mama was his first word. Ever since then they've been trying to get him to say dada but it just hasn't happened yet.

Puck smiles proudly at his beautiful family as he walks over to them and drops a kiss on Ethan's head. "Happy birthday, Ethan." The little boy just blows a raspberry at him and pats his tiny hand against his cheek. "Your aunt and bubbe are going to be here later to eat cake with you."

A drooling smile is his only response.

When he looks at Ethan, all he can see is Rachel. From the deep brown eyes to the full head of shiny brown hair that apparently turns curly when he goes too long between haircuts. He doesn't really see any of himself in the little boy other than his reckless and carefree attitude when it comes to exploring his world but he's sure that probably has to do more with who's raising him than anything else; that whole nature versus nurture thing that the experts are always talking about or whatever.

Sighing, Puck decides that it's pretty much now or never when it comes to finding out the truth, so he begins to rip open the envelope. But before he can even finish getting the flap open he hears the one word that makes his heart swell so much that he literally feels like it could burst right out of his chest. Instead he quickly rips the envelope to shreds as he tells Rachel that he doesn't need some piece of paper to tell him what he's known all along. That he _is_ Ethan's father because he's been there for both her and him all along. That he loves him unconditionally and only wants the best for their little boy; and while blood might be thicker than water, it doesn't mean everything.

Rachel just beams at her fiancé before throwing an arm around his neck to bring him closer so she can kiss him because she's never loved him more than she does right now. Then she hands him their son as he says the magic word again.

"Dada."

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><p>Thoughts? Questions? Rants? Raves? Reviews?<p> 


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